<p>@jtcsmash
That was in the same experimental section I had. The sentence did say “repelled.” I was so put off by this glaring error. I was totally confused (I think a better word is flummoxed) because I couldn’t believe that CB would put something so obvious. I thought I was insane because nobody on this thread knew what question I was talking about! Now that you have corroborated what I was thinking, I know I saw it :D</p>
<p>this question about “repelled her to fame,” was it from the experimental?</p>
<p>^
Yes, it was.</p>
<p>Thats weird, I also got a 9 essay and 2 wrong, but it was a 750. Guess it was a different curve?</p>
<p>questioning authority was the jan test essay prompt for east US! huh…</p>
<p>Ok, to those who say for the chandelier question, the answer is NE.
Can you explain why? I was torn between “Its” and NE and my reasoning for choosing “Its” was that if you had a similar sentence like “Her dress made Anna look large,” the word “Her” does not refer to Anna. I thought similarly, the word “Its” did not refer to the room even though the room was the only singular noun. </p>
<p>So can someone explain the grammatical rule or link a site that cites a different but similar sentence where the pronoun is not incorrect?</p>
<p>I’m looking at around 4 or 5 wrong, 9 or 10 essay. What do you guys think I’ll get?</p>
<p>It really depends on the sentence for pronoun reference.</p>
<p>“Though May and Anna have the same shirt size, her dress made Anna look large.”
– Here we have ambiguity, so circling HER would be the correct answer.
“After Anna decided to go to prom, her dress made Anna look large.”
– This sentence is just awkward. Change ANNA to a pronoun.
“Her dress made Anna look large.”
– CB wouldn’t give you something like this…</p>
<p>The major reason why “Its” is perfectly OK is that the “room” is referred to as “it” later in the sentence. Therefore, the sentence provides evidence that “it” refers to “room”, and “Its” should likewise.</p>
<p>@tk
Say you missed five.
45 - (5/4) =~ 44 raw score → 68-71 subscore for MC
Say you missed four.
46 - (4/4) = 45 raw score → 69-73 subscore for MC
Essays usually pull scores up a bit.</p>
<p>@annue15, and @kbronx17
thanks for the clearup, nobody seemed to know what i was talking about either!
@jimmypod: thats what the question said, my end part to the experimental talked about different food colorings, so we had different experimentals. the word really should have been propelled, but i vividly remember “repelled”, i was flummoxed(thanks @annue15, great word, fits the context perfectly) and spent ~10 min on it lol.</p>
<p>I still don’t get why “It” necessarily has to refer to the room.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that this is my only justification but don’t you sort of see what I’m talking about.
Ok what if I made my fake example somewhat more parallel to the actual question.</p>
<p>Her dress makes Anna look larger than she actually is.
Its chandaliers and furnishings make the room look larger than it actually is.</p>
<p>Through the overall meaning of the sentences, we know that the pronoun in the beginning of the sentence refers to the object that is later mentioned, but isn’t the pronoun ambiguous in the sense that it refers to the object before the object of the sentence is actually mentioned?</p>
<p>@jtc
I’ve seen SAT prep stuff with writing questions like that. It’s a diction error. Some other ones include:
imminent vs. eminent (on the Jan 2012)
affect vs. effect
would’ve vs. would of
regardless vs. irregardless
etc.</p>
<p>@michael
read silverturtle’s guide. In it, it states that pronoun sometimes go BEFORE the noun it refers to. And that’s OK. Read this:
“The room appears larger than it actually is because of its chandeliers and mirrors.”
– Although we had to add “because of” to make the sentence, “its” still clearly refers to room.</p>
<p>Usually, pronoun references are wrong when they are ambiguous, and this “its” can only refer to the singular “room”.</p>
<p>First thing off Google:
[Pronoun</a> Reference](<a href=“Using pronouns | The Writing Centre | University of Ottawa”>Using pronouns | The Writing Centre | University of Ottawa)
Pronouns <em>should</em> come after what they refer to. But not necessarily.</p>
<p>What would you change “Its” to? “It’s” is incorrect. “The room’s” is unnecessary and clunky.</p>
<p>“However, a pronoun must always refer to a single, clear, unmistakable NOUN ANTECEDENT.”</p>
<p>This is what I got from Towson University. Under this condition, the noun antecedent would have to come earlier.</p>
<p>For me, the “Its” sounded clumsy, and I think “The room’s” would actually sound less clumsy. “The room’s glittering chandeliers and mirrored walls make the room appear larger than it actually is.” Even just replacing “Its” with the word “The” removes ambiguity and makes the sentence sound cleaner. “The glittering chandeliers and mirrored walls make the room appear larger than it actually is.”</p>
<p>Whether retaining “Its” is grammatically correct or not, it also seems awkward and ambiguous, and reading the sentence aloud (at least personally) created confusion.</p>
<p>From the same link Lanayru posted, “Unless pronouns refer unmistakably to distinct, close, and single antecedents, the reader will never be sure…” The antecedent is certainly not close (from my viewpoint) and does not precede the pronoun, so it just seems like poor usage to me.</p>
<p>Here’s an example in which a pronoun came before its antecedent. It’s very possible, and not enough to warrant circling A.
[Pronoun</a> before antecedent?](<a href=“Pronoun before antecedent? - GMAT Sentence Correction - Urch Forums”>Pronoun before antecedent? - GMAT Sentence Correction - Urch Forums)</p>
<p>I don’t know… This question makes me so uneasy…</p>
<p>Yes, I realize that sometimes the pronoun can go before the noun, usually if its in a dependent clause or with a comma like in the sentence “Although it is small, the room is larger than it actually is.” But I don’t recall ever seeing a good sentence without a comma that contained the pronoun before the noun it was referring to. Can you think of an example that is not the actual SAT question and does not refer to an inanimate or genderless object (because theoretically, it should apply to all pronouns, yes?)? </p>
<p>Also, your example (“The room appears larger than it actually is because of its chandeliers and mirrors.”) doesn’t exactly support this statement, “the room” appears first in the sentence. </p>
<p>I think the word “The” should replace the word “Its” and it would work much better in my opinion.</p>
<p>"Here’s an example in which a pronoun came before its antecedent. It’s very possible, and not enough to warrant circling A.</p>
<h2>Pronoun before antecedent?"</h2>
<p>That example uses a comma, which indicates that “its merits” refers directly to the noun right after the comma which is “the proposal”</p>
<p>Its is CORRECT. </p>
<p>Here is a similar sentence from a prior QAS: </p>
<ol>
<li>It is now generally agreed that the rings of the planet Saturn are composed of several billion small ice particles. NO error. </li>
</ol>
<p>IN this sentence “It is” was underlined. The sentence contains NO ERROR.</p>
<p>Read from the beginning of the thread and see what other people claimed. I very certain it’s NE!</p>