What does it refer to?

Question

My father doesn't ____. It is not good for his health. (A) exercise (B) smokeWhich choice do you think is correct?

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

Pls post your choice first.

Teo · Answer

I guess the correct choice is A.

CalifJim · Answer

How could you have thought that exercise is not good for your health and smoking is good for your health?

CJ

Teo · Answer

Did you mean the correct answer is B?

One more question. My father doesn't ____. That is not good for his health. (A) exercise (B) smoke
Which choice is correct?

Neeraj Jain · Answer

Teo, you are asking the same thing again. The right answer is (B).

Teo · Answer

1. My father doesn't ____. It is not good for his health. (A) exercise (B) smoke

2. My father doesn't ____. That is not good for his health. (A) exercise (B) smoke

In #1, either would be possible, since 'it' can refer back equally naturally to a single noun referent (i.e. smoking) as to an entire nominalized predication (i.e. the fact that he does not exercise).

In #2, however, sense dictates that only (A) would be appropriate, since 'that' would normally refer back to the predication rather than to the single noun.

http://www.englishclub.com/esl-forums/viewtopic.php?p=334243#334243

Marius Hancu · Answer

Think meaning first, rather than grammar, and see what CJ says.

Anyway, the above poster is correct too, "it" creates confusion in this context. I would not use it.

Nona the brit · Answer

This exercise is highly ambiguous and there are two ways of looking at it.

Err.....I think it is A as well. Something - 'it' - is not good for the father's health. The 'it's available are either 'not excercising' or 'not smoking'.

Out of these the 'not exercising' is the one that is bad for your health.

I think that for B to be clearly the answer then this would need to be one sentence 'My father doesn't smoke because it is bad for his health'.

I don't think you should assume the presence of the meaning of 'because' in the original exercise. It doesn't say because. The 'it is bad for his health' is not giving the reason why he does A or B - it is giving the result of doing A or B. He doesn't exercise. Full stop. Therefore he is unhealthy.

Smoking would be bad for his health. But not smoking? That isn't bad for his health.

Another reason I believe it is A is that if we were to take the second sentence as an explanation of 'why' he does the first sentence, the verb tense would need to be different. How can something he doesn't do be bad for his health? 'It is bad for his health'. No it isn't because he doesn't do it. This would need to be rephrased as 'It would be bad for his health (if he did it). My father doesn't smoke. It would be bad for his health.

Marius Hancu · Answer

Nona The BritThis exercise is highly ambiguous [snip]

I think that for B to be clearly the answer then this would need to be one sentence 'My father doesn't smoke because it is bad for his health'.

Nona:

I agree it's very ambigous.

However, I'd suggest something different for disambiguation (even your version isn't completely clear, IMHO), if B is chosen for an answer/choice:

My father doesn't smoke because smoking is bad for his health.

Sorry for the repetition, but I put clarity first.

CalifJim · Answer

Well, Nona, you've certainly started up a head-spinner here!

It seems to me that there are all kinds of cases where we correctly assume a because between statements. I don't seem able to understand the objection regarding because. Assuming because seems quite normal to me.

I give a different example below. I'm not sure what it proves.
____

I don't ride bulls. It's dangerous.

I find it hard to believe that the listener does not take this as:

I don't ride bulls, because riding bulls is dangerous.

Or that he takes it as:

I don't ride bulls. Not riding bulls is dangerous.
____________

On the other hand, there's this:

I don't ride bulls. It's prudent.

I find it hard to believe that the listener does not take this as:

I don't ride bulls, because not riding bulls is prudent.

Or that he takes it as:

I don't ride bulls. Riding bulls is prudent.
______________
[The choice of dangerous vs. prudent governs the choice of the referent of it. The referent of it is riding for dangerous, but not riding for prudent. Semantics, not syntax, is the factor that determines the referent of it.]
______________
So it seems to me that if the final comment (in the original example) is It's not good for him, it's normal to take it as because it's not good for him.

In fact, the possibility that exercise could be the correct answer sends me in a different direction, which reveals yet another ambiguity. Suppose my father has just had a serious operation which now requires extended bed rest. Then:

My father doesn't exercise. It's not good for his health.

But this still implies because it (doing exercise) is not good for his health.

In the absence of the special context (bed rest), the only answer that seems right to me is:

My father doesn't smoke. [because] It

is not good for his health.

If exercise was supposed to be the answer, I think the question would have been:

My father doesn't _____(exercise, smoke). And that's not good for his health.
________

I guess every sentence in English can be taken at least 32 ways (unless this has all been just a lot of bull).

CJ

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