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Stenka25 Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary

The pronoun problem

the pronoun problem

The passage below is from ‘the Blank Slate’ by Steven Pinker.

http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm

The human eye is uncannily similar to the eyes of other organisms and has quirky vestiges of extinct ancestors, such as a retina that appears to have been installed backwards. Today's organs are replicas of organs in our ancestors whose design worked better than the alternatives, thereby enabling them to become our ancestors. Natural selection is the only physical process we know of that can simulate engineering, because it is the only process in which how well something works can play a causal role in how it came to be.

In this passage I cannot figure out what the underlined ‘whose’ refer to?
It seems to represent ‘today’s organs’ in a way, but the past verb ‘worked better’ says it doesn’t. So it seems to stand for ‘organs in our ancestors.’
I’m in a dilemma.

Hope for your replies.

Regards.
  

Top answer

Stenka25 In this passage I cannot figure out what the underlined ‘whose’ refer to? ancestors

— AlpheccaStars

  • Stenka25 In this passage I cannot figure out what the underlined ‘whose’ refer to?
  • ancestors
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13 Answers
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Stenka25In this passage I cannot figure out what the underlined ‘whose’ refer to?
ancestors
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The way I read it, it refers to "organs".
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GPYThe way I read it, it refers to "organs".
You're right. I didn't read carefully enough.
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Thanks a lot, AlpheccaStars.
Thanks a lot, GPY.
But let me double check.

You mean 'organs' in ‘organs in our ancestors,’ not in ‘today’s organs.’
Am I right?
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It depends on who you think owns the design, the owner of the organs or the organs themselves.

Today's organs are replicas of organs in our ancestors whose design worked better than the alternatives....

means either

Today's organs are replicas of organs in our ancestors, who employed an organ design that worked better

or

Today's organs are
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deadratToday's organs are replicas of organs in our ancestors, who employed an organ design that worked better
With no comma after "ancestors" (in the original), I find this interpretation quite a strain.
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The usage in the original is restrictive. We've had ancestors whose designs didn't work quite so well. They're extinct.
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deadratThe usage in the original is restrictive. We've had ancestors whose designs didn't work quite so well. They're extinct.
"... in our ancestors" + restrictive clause is problematic.
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How so? We have some ancestors whose design (of the organs in question) worked better than others and some ancestors whose design failed to work better than others. We're only talking about the ones with the better design, the ones whose line led to us. The others had lines that presumably went extinct. That's how evolution works.
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