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Youngbuts Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
"Their" here is ambiguous for me.
Hello,
Would you take a look at the following pharagraph?
(a) Faith Hospice is looking for volunteers who want to help hospice patients and their families. (b) By taking care of our patients emotionally as well as physically, volunteers will make a real difference in their lives. c) They will have precious opportunities to provide compassionate care for our patients. (d) They will also have numerous chances to facilitate the healing process of the families of our hospice patients.
Can "their" bold in (b) refer to volunteers? It is not clear for me,a non-native speaker whether "their" there rerer to volunteers or hospice patients.
Thanks in advance.
Would you take a look at the following pharagraph?
(a) Faith Hospice is looking for volunteers who want to help hospice patients and their families. (b) By taking care of our patients emotionally as well as physically, volunteers will make a real difference in their lives. c) They will have precious opportunities to provide compassionate care for our patients. (d) They will also have numerous chances to facilitate the healing process of the families of our hospice patients.
Can "their" bold in (b) refer to volunteers? It is not clear for me,a non-native speaker whether "their" there rerer to volunteers or hospice patients.
Thanks in advance.
Top answer
It seems clear to me that it is intended to refer to patients.
- It seems clear to me that it is intended to refer to patients.
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3 Answers
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If you wanted to indicate that the volunteers also benefit from the experience, you would say something like "Volunteers will also see benefits in their own lives."
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a. "Their" refers to hospice patients.
b. "Their" refers to hospice patients. (I'm a native English speaker in the US, and I used to have trouble with this kind of sentence too. Because "their" is in the same clause as volunteers, there is a natural tendency to associate it on a first reading with volunteers, and this is not that farfetched - it is often said of idealistic young volun
b. "Their" refers to hospice patients. (I'm a native English speaker in the US, and I used to have trouble with this kind of sentence too. Because "their" is in the same clause as volunteers, there is a natural tendency to associate it on a first reading with volunteers, and this is not that farfetched - it is often said of idealistic young volun
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