关于代词指代，一个老外的解释

xshieleyx

Jack and Charlie fell asleep, so Susan and I decided to go to chess practice, clean our rooms, and go for a walk instead of hanging out with them.
To which of the following does them refer?     答案是：Jack and Charlie
我觉得我要是没学GMAT语法肯定知道them指代这俩人，但是学了之后我就YY them有可能指代的是 go to chess practice, clean rooms and go for a walk== 但是老外的解释是：

"Them" has to refer to Jack and Charlie because "hanging out with" cannot apply to things, only to people. So even though "them" is a pronoun that can refer to either people or things, because you can only "hang out with" a person or group of people, "them" must refer to a group of people and so it must refer to Jack and Charlie, the only applicable antecedent.
I understand what you're saying about a strictly grammatical approach, but remember that logic plays a part in grammar. For example, an illogical comparison IS a grammatical error. So while you want to make sure that there is a gramatically correct antecedent for every pronoun, "hanging out with" logically and gramatically can only refer to people, and there is a clear antecedent given that restriction.
还给了个例子，我就更不明白了了：
Here's an example that might help clarify the concept:
The basketball fell onto the glass table, and it shattered.

("It" is not ambiguous because only the glass table can be described as shattered; a basketball cannot be described as shattered)

The crystal vase fell onto the glass table, and it shattered.

("It" is ambiguous because both the glass table and the crystal vase can be described as shattered; the pronoun is ambiguous and incorrect)
同志们，代词指代到底该如何是好？？？？？
谢谢！

1fineday

them在GMAT里应该指代名词吧，所以应该不能指代go to chess practice, clean rooms and go for a walk。一点愚见

xshieleyx

them在GMAT里应该指代名词吧，所以应该不能指代go to chess practice, clean rooms and go for a walk。一点愚见

-- by 会员 1fineday (2011/7/21 22:34:00)

恩，也是。不过后来还有一个句子Tony's cousin Marie uses only her plastic knives to cut vegetables because her other knives do not slice them well.我问them有没有可能指代的knives, 回答说： "them" is not ambiguous because it has only one possible antecedent: "vegetables." Now, there are two plural nouns in the sentence: "knives" and "vegetables." However, the sentence states: "her other knives do not slice them well." We cannot "slice" knives. This is illogical, so it would make the sentence incorrect. However, we can "slice" vegetables. So "vegetables" is the only noun that "them" could be referring to. The pronoun is therefore not ambiguous. 所以综上，我觉得可能是不是代词指代，逻辑优先。。。几经版一位同仁也这么说

xshieleyx

them在GMAT里应该指代名词吧，所以应该不能指代go to chess practice, clean rooms and go for a walk。一点愚见

-- by 会员 1fineday (2011/7/21 22:34:00)

谢谢答复