Use 'former' or 'latter' instead of 'him': A reminder of the Danger accompanying the use of Pronouns

Saturday, November 7, 2009

While reading today's newspaper, I stumbled upon the following sentence:-

A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched him three months ago.

Now ambiguity has arisen whether it is the political aide or the Deputy Minister who was punched.

There can be an easy solution to the situation. If it is the political aide, the sentence can be recast as "A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched the former three months ago."

However, it is the Deputy Minister, the sentence should be "A political aide to the Deputy Minister has urged the police to hasten its investigation on a leader who allegedly punched the latter three months ago."