This,these and pronouns

[EnriqueR905]

Hello, I am confused about a topic I read on MGMAT SC guide. On chapter 7 (Pronouns), it stated that this and these can never replace a noun.However, when I see the next topic (" some ambiguity is acceptable") the pronoun "them" is replaced by "these materials".Therefore, I would like to know If i should replace this or these with pronouns whenever I need to? It sounds a little confusing.


Here are the examples they used. For the explanation of not replacing this and these with nouns:

Wrong: Her products are unusual; many consider these unique.
Right: Her products are unusual; many consider them unique.

When they refered to Ambiguity:

"Researchers claim to have developed a new nano-papers incorporating tiny cellulose fibers, which they allege give them the strength to cast iron."

It was changed into:

"Researchers claim to have developed a new nano-papers incorporating tiny cellulose fibers, which give these materials the strength to cast iron."

Thank You.

[StaceyKoprince]

Please remember to read (and follow!) the forum guidelines before posting.

This folder is only for general strategy questions, not content or specific test problems. Check out the content / problem folders and post in the relevant folder depending upon the source of the problem you want to post (and make sure to follow the rules about banned sources).

I'll give a short answer here, but if you would like to discuss further, please post in the MPrep non-CAT folder.

The pronoun them can replace a noun. That is why it is shown in the correct example for the this / these / them discussion.

The ambiguity discussion is a completely different discussion. Though we probably could have used something less weird than nano-papers to make the point.

In the ambiguity example, you are grammatically still allowed to use "them" to replace the noun in question. The problem is that the sentence is then ambiguous, because two different nouns (nano-papers and fibers) could be the antecedent of the pronoun them.

[Ambiguous] Researchers claim to have developed new “nano-papers” incorporating tiny cellulose fibers, which THEY allege give THEM the strength of cast iron. [Is THEM nano-papers? Or cellulose fibers? If all the answers have this ambiguity, then ignore the issue. But if some answers fix the ambiguity, then go with a version that doesn't have ambiguity.]

[No ambiguity] Researchers claim to have developed new “nano-papers” incorporating tiny cellulose fibers, which give THESE MATERIALS the strength of cast iron, according to the researchers. [No ambiguity: the which refers to fibers and these materials refer to something else: nano-papers.]