Ambiguous Pronoun in a Clinical Trial Summary
A research assistant drafts a plain-language summary: 'Participants who took the new drug and those who took the placebo reported fewer headaches after the trial, but they were not sure whether the improvement was due to the drug.' The principal investigator notices that 'they' could refer to participants, researchers, or both. The summary must be accurate: participants reported headache frequency; researchers assessed causation. The summary is for a bulletin board in a clinic waiting room and must be understandable to adults reading at an 8th-grade level.
1. Identify the pronoun problem and revise the sentence so the referent is clear. Use the setup's fact about who assessed causation.
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'They' could refer to participants who took the drug, those who took placebo, or the researchers. The setup says participants reported headaches while researchers assessed causation, so the uncertain group is the researchers. Revision: 'Participants who took the new drug and those who took the placebo reported fewer headaches after the trial, but researchers were not sure whether the improvement was due to the drug.' Repeating 'researchers' removes ambiguity. At an 8th-grade reading level, an explicit noun is clearer than a pronoun with three possible antecedents.
2. If the writer wants to keep the sentence shorter, what revision strategy could preserve clarity without repeating a long noun phrase?
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Use a dummy subject or restructure: 'It was unclear whether the improvement came from the drug.' This avoids the pronoun entirely and keeps the sentence short. If the writer must name who was unsure, use a short noun: 'but the team was not sure...' only if 'team' clearly means researchers, which it may not. For a waiting-room bulletin, 'It was unclear' is concise and unambiguous. The strategy is to remove the pronoun rather than guess which antecedent readers will choose.