a pond of clear water in it

Question

The first place that I can remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end.

1. Do all the 'it's in the text mean "a meadow"?
2. What does "at the deep end" mean?

Thanks

Enoon · Accepted Answer

1. No. The first one, yes. The second one is the pond.
2. The deep end of the pond. A swimming pool has a "deep end", where the diving board is.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi enoon,

Why doesn't the first 'it' a pronoun of 'pond' but meadow? Does it have a rule like "referring it to the immediate precedent in sentence'? (sorry I don't know how to phrase this question any better)

P.S. waterlilies should have been the clue.

Thanks

Enoon · Answer

You are right to have a problem with this passage. The two "it"s are confusing. The reader sees the second "it" and thinks that it is a repeat of the first one. The writer did not want to repeat "pond", so he repeated "it", instead. We call that jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. It would have been right and good to repeat "pond": The first place that I can remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over the pond, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end.

The first "it" refers to the meadow because you can't have a pond of clear water in a pond. The process by which we decide what pronoun means what is mysterious to me. (There are people here better equipped to answer that question. I am not an ESL teacher.) But we do use our intelligence, and we can instantly tell what makes sense and what does not.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

The first place that I can remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it.

It refers to meadow.

Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Since trees grow in a meadow, not over a meadow, and trees very often lean over a pond, it refers to pond. Trees don't normally grow in ponds, but they very commonly lean over them.

The rule for the antecedent of a pronoun is: find the nearest noun that is semantically reasonable.

Swimming pools have a shallow end and a deep end. The shallow end is where you can stand on the bottom with your head above the water. The deep end is for diving. the pond apparently had one part with shallow water, and another part with deep water.

Enoon · Answer

AlpheccaStarsThe rule for the antecedent of a pronoun is: find the nearest noun that is semantically reasonable.

Sure, but the writer has to make sure that the reader doesn't have to hunt for it, even for a fraction of a second.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

enoonSure, but the writer has to make sure that the reader doesn't have to hunt for it, even for a fraction of a second.

It didn't take me long at all. I was not even conscious of the "hunting."

CalifJim · Answer

AlpheccaStarsIt didn't take me long at all.

Yes, but some of us are slower! I did have to stop and think about it for a fraction of a second! Getting old, I guess.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

With a pond of clear water in it, you can clearly see the fish.

Does the sentence seem alright? If the sentence is grammatical, does "it" this time refer to "pond"?

Thanks
Tinanam

AlpheccaStars · Answer

If a pond has clear water in it, you can clearly see the fish.

I might see the fish with a sonar system, or binoculars, or with my eyes, but certainly not with a pond!

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi AlpeccaStars,

Thanks. I see where the problem is. 'With'

Thanks again.
Have a good day.

a pond of clear water in it

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