Fun with grammar

The following article appearing in the Star is worthy of taking note of:-

THE STAR'S MIND OUR ENGLISH Wednesday December 5, 2007
Fun with grammar
By OH TEIK THEAM
LOOK at these little ‘stories’ and see if you can find a mistake in each:
The broken window
The mother blew her top when she found out that a window in the house had been broken. “Can’t you stay out of trouble for just one day?” she shouted at her son.
Thinking that he could make his friend the scapegoat, the little boy said, “The fault is David’s, who ducked his head when I threw a stone at him.”
The sentence The fault is David’s, who ducked his head when I threw a stone at him is awkward.
Possessives (except for independent possessives) function as adjectives. Strictly speaking, adjectives cannot be the antecedents of pronouns, especially relative pronouns. (An antecedent is the noun, noun phrase or noun clause that a pronoun refers to.)
Rewrite: The broken window is the fault of David, who ducked his head when I threw a stone at him. / David broke the window by ducking his head when I threw a stone at him.
The sentence “If you need a racquet, you may borrow Steve’s, which he bought a few days ago” is, however, correct. Here, “Steve’s” is an independent possessive, a possessive form that functions as a noun. There is an ellipsis of “racquet” in the antecedent (= Steve’s racquet), which the relative pronoun “which” refers to.
Other examples of independent possessives are “yours” and “mine”: My new cellphone is not as versatile as yours (= your cellphone), which is more expensive. / If you have mislaid your cellphone, you may use mine (= my cellphone), which is on the desk behind you.
The general opinion is that a possessive can be the antecedent of a pronoun as long as the meaning of the pronoun is clear and the sentence is not awkward:
The principal’s illness forced her to retire early. (Alternative: The principal decided to retire early because of her illness.)
Michael’s laziness made him lose his job. (Alternative: Michael lost his job because he was lazy.)
The rabbits
Two rabbits saw a pack of wolves a short distance away. The rabbits didn’t run because they were afraid.
After a while, one of the rabbits said, “If we get to work now, we can outnumber them!”
The second sentence in the first paragraph is unclear – it might mean that the rabbits ran, but not because they were afraid. For clarity, we sometimes put a comma before a because-clause that follows the main clause. (The Chicago Manual of Style)
Rewrite: The rabbits didn’t run, because they were afraid.
We can also let the because-clause begin the sentence: Because the rabbits were afraid, they didn’t run.