新人求请教———代词指代问题

吉曼特托夫

It is unclear whether chimpanzees are unique among nonhuman species in their ability to learn behaviors from one another, or if, when other animals are studied in as much depth, similar patterns would be found.
(A) if, when other animals are studied in as much depth, similar patterns would be found  
(B) if other animals were studied with as much depth they would exhibit similar patterns  
(C) would similar patterns be found in other animals if they were studied in as much depth  
(D) whether similar patterns would be exhibited in other animals that were studied with as much depth  
(E) whether other animals would exhibit similar patterns if they were studied in as much depth  

请问各位大牛，正确选项(E)，GMAT中若出现两个复数名词，代词they应该如何考虑？
是：主语animals和宾语patterns哪个符合逻辑指代哪个？
是：they就近修饰patterns？
还是：指代模糊，直接排除？

仅此为例，关于GMAT代词指代用法还不是很明白，望各位大牛不吝赐教，小弟感激不尽~

吉曼特托夫

ayoyoyo 发表于 2014-8-14 09:23
E里面的they从句意上看非常清楚地在指代other animals.

指代模糊不是“不可容忍”的错误，不作为排除选项 ...

解释的好清楚，太感谢了

ayoyoyo

E里面的they从句意上看非常清楚地在指代other animals.

指代模糊不是“不可容忍”的错误，不作为排除选项的绝对理由。

通常，it/they优先去指代距离最近的主语，在这里就是other animals；然后再去找其他的成分，但必须指代是句子中出现过的主要成分（比如主语、宾语），而不能是这个成分的一部分。

任何句子在含义清楚的情况下，都不存在歧义。让人看不懂的才是歧义。