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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary
Nouns in prepositional phrase as subject of next sentence
Hello, all. Can a noun in a preposition phrase (at the end of a sentence) be the subject of the next sentence?
For example:
"All the men at the store had one thing in mind - the last two bottles of soda. All of them were limited-edition."
Both sentences begin with "all". The first all describes the men at the store. But the "all" in the second sentence is not so clear.
In grammar rules, should the second sentence be the ultimate factor of defining who "all of them" is? It isn't clear if "all of them" are talking about the men or the last two bottles. Can a noun in a prepositional phrase be the subject of the next sentence? Surely men can be limited-edition, too.
For example:
"All the men at the store had one thing in mind - the last two bottles of soda. All of them were limited-edition."
Both sentences begin with "all". The first all describes the men at the store. But the "all" in the second sentence is not so clear.
In grammar rules, should the second sentence be the ultimate factor of defining who "all of them" is? It isn't clear if "all of them" are talking about the men or the last two bottles. Can a noun in a prepositional phrase be the subject of the next sentence? Surely men can be limited-edition, too.
Top answer
" However, I do believe that most people would see the contextual reference to the bottles. Yes, I guess men can be limited-edition, too - especially grammarians.
- " However, I do believe that most people would see the contextual reference to the bottles.
- Yes, I guess men can be limited-edition, too - especially grammarians.
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4 Answers
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To solve the immediate problem, we could change it to " bottles of soda, all of which..." However, I do believe that most people would see the contextual reference to the bottles. Yes, I guess men can be limited-edition, too - especially grammarians.
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Thanks for your response. I agree that reconstructing the phrase to say "all of which" at the end would solve the problem. What about the two sentences in the original post? Is there a grammar rule that forces "all" in the second sentence to mean the men in the store and not the bottles?
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No rule. In my book, just common sense. Which doesn't mean there can not be confusion.
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AnonymousAll the men at the store had one thing in mind - the last two bottles of soda. All of them were limited-edition.The question is one of pronoun reference. Is 'them' 'the men' or 'the bottles'?
Whatever it is, it must be something that logically takes the descriptor "limited-edition".
AnonymousSurely men can be
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