<p>When is an ambiguity an ambiguity? For instance.... I'm making up this sentence:</p>
<p>Although Prince Philip privately had second thoughts, he understood the duties that came with his royal position and decided to go ahead [[WITH IT]].</p>
<p>Is [[WITH IT]] ambiguous because it is unclear what "it" refers to.. even though this isn't really a grammatical error? If placed back in context, this sentence would probably be fine. But how does the collegeboard deal with this kind of ambiguity?</p>
<p>my personal guess would be that it is ambiguous, since you could stretch the meaning to mean he went ahead with his "royal position" (as opposed to declining it). Obviously probably not the intended meaning, but the SAT has had more dubious distinctions in it.</p>
<p>although, i've seen CB questions that are like: "they said in the papers that he was very rude" where the "they" was ambiguous. I'd say the "it" is ambiguous, but have never taken a SAT</p>
<p>My understanding was that ambiguity is when you can't discern the pronoun from two possible antecedents (i.e. Sarah and Jane wanted to go out tonight, but she had homework and couldn't go).</p>
<p>Although I'm fairly certain that I've seen questions where 'they' was the subject of a sentence and was classified as an ambiguity. Perhaps that is the criteria?</p>
<p>I have no idea though, just what I think.</p>
<p>At any rate, I would be quicker to recognize 'they' as an ambiguity than 'it' or 'he'.</p>