23a. Ambiguous or remote reference

23aAvoid ambiguous or remote pronoun reference.

Ambiguous pronoun reference occurs when a pronoun could refer to two possible antecedents.

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What broke—the pitcher or the table? Who won the lottery—Tom or James? The revisions eliminate the ambiguity.

Remote pronoun reference occurs when a pronoun is too far away from its antecedent for easy reading.

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The pronoun he was too distant from its antecedent, ex-husband, which appeared several sentences earlier.