Prounoun antecedant

Question

Hi,Dear friendsI have a big problem with recognizing pronoun antecedant in passages i would be grateful if someone could guide me through this(through this? am i correct?)or maybe teach me some tricks for guessing it in passages,especially in multiple choices.for example:Although stage plays have been set to music since the era of the ancient Greeks,when the dramas of sophocles and Aeschylus were accompanied by lyres and flutes ,the usually accepted  date for the beginnning of opera as we know it  is 1600. The word it  refers to______   1) opera     2)date     3)era   4)musicmy answer was date but it is wrong .opera is right.why?please give me practical tricks and solutions.Thanks for your kindnessR.N

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Well, for one thing you must understand what the sentence is saying; common sense and common knowledge play a part in knowing what is a reasonable, logical referent.  This case, however, is typical in that the referent is most often the nearest preceding noun - which is 'opera'.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi, I agree, the pronoun 'it', here, is a bit fuzzy, hence confusion; "it" can refer to the "beginning" or to the "opera". I'd rather say: "...the usually accepted date for the beginnning of opera as a distinct music genre is 1600."

Rashin · Answer

well,if so,what should i do with this rule in sentences like :it is a flower , a flower is main subject and the antecedant for it.please guide me.

Thanks for your kindness.

Mister Micawber · Answer

I don't see your problem.  'It' = 'flower', but flower is not an antecedent, since it follows the pronoun.

Anonymous · Answer

rashinwell,if so,what should i do with this rule in sentences like :it is a flower , a flower is main subject and the antecedant for it.please guide me. Thanks for your kindness.

Hi,

So, back to basics. What is antecedant ? It is a word, phrase or a clause that is substituted by another - following it - word, usually a pronoun (personal or relative). So, from the "technical" point of view a 'flower', which functions as a complement (not a subject) in the copula, refers back to the subject 'it'. Could anyone call the pronoun 'it' in such a copula an antecedant of the noun a 'flower' ? I doubt it.

Leviking · Answer

Rashin, as others pointed out here, the answer should be "opera," but I think you need to understand what "as we know" means to get this right. It's a common phrase. In this sentence, the writer wants to clarify what he means by "opera." Opera was not invented on a single day. Instead, it evolved from various sources and styles (like the Greek plays mentioned in the sentence) into a distinct format of music and drama. This distinct format is what we mean today when we say "opera." The writer uses the phrase "as we know it" to explain that he is talking about "'opera' as it is defined or understood today."
Consider this example:
Humans have been using computational tools like the abacus for millennia, but computers as we know them began in the 1940s with the building of the first programmable electronic machines.
There may be exceptions, but the antecedent in such cases is almost always the noun immediately preceding "as we know it/them." I realize that "the beginning of opera" and simply "opera" are both nouns (or noun phrases), so consider this question-- which noun is the author concerned with defining here? I think it's pretty clear that he or she wants to clarify what is meant by "opera," right?

As for your second post, the anonymous poster is right in saying that "a flower" is a complement, not the subject. Don't get too hung up on linear order-- grammar is hierarchical, not linear, because syntactic movement can require or allow things to move from one place in a sentence to another, yet they may still be understood in their original position. A pronoun can have a real-world antecedent, like:
A: Do you see them? (pointing at a pond)
B: Yeah-- those tiny fish!
Your "flower" sentence could be like this-- it's not clear without more context.
Also, the pronoun can come before the antecedent, like:
Because she was early for the meeting, Janet decided to read the newspaper.
or
Given his love of old furniture, Allen stopped at every antique store he passed on his drive across the state.
Note that this is usually limited to complex sentences where the independent clause is last.

Rashin · Answer

Dear Leviking,thanks for your concise and complete answer.I got my answer.I hope to see your answers in another posts.

Thanks.

Prounoun antecedant

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