In the sentence "When the girl spoke to Anna, she was nervous," who does 'she' most likely refer to?

In the sentence "When the girl spoke to Anna, she was nervous," who does 'she' most likely refer to?

• A. The girl
• B. Anna
• C. Both
• D. Cannot be determined without more context

Answer: (D)

A sentence can be clear about who a pronoun refers to when there’s a single obvious antecedent. Here, the pronoun refers to the person who is nervous, but there are two possible antecedents in the preceding clause: the girl or Anna. Since the sentence doesn’t provide any additional detail to indicate which of them is nervous, the reference is ambiguous. Both the girl and Anna could be the one described as nervous, and you’d need more context to know which one is meant.

To remove the ambiguity, you could rewrite to specify the intended antecedent, for example: “When the girl spoke to Anna, the girl was nervous” or “When the girl spoke to Anna, Anna was nervous.”