Circus clowns- SC -Page 135 Problem 9

[Anonymous]

After correcting the answer, the sentence reads,

In contrast to trapeze artists, who fumbled their routine, the circus clowns kept the audience entertained for hours with their antics.

How are we sure that "their" does not refer to audience but to clowns.
While it is common knowledge that the antics belong to clowns, what is the grammatical rule to understand what "their" refers to.
Imagine you don't know what antics is.

Please provide link/s if this is already answered somewhere.

Thanks

[esledge]

Good question. The pronoun is clear because of the where/how it is used (structure of the sentence, not the meaning).

the circus clowns = Subject
kept (entertained) = Verb
the audience = Object
for hours = Adverbial Modifier (i.e. "kept entertained how?")
with their antics = Adverbial Modifier (i.e. "kept entertained how?")

Because "with their antics" describes the action, and the action was done by the clowns, "their" refers to "clowns."

[JbhB682]

Hi - Reviving this thread as i had a question on this

Wrong : In contrast to the trapeze artists, who fumbled their routine, the antics of the circus clowns kept the audience entertained for hours.

The corrected version of this sentence is given as :

Corrected : In contrast to the trapeze artists, who fumbled their routine, the circus clowns kept the audience entertained for hours with their antics.

Question : how can we be sure the comparison is between trapeze artists and circus clowns...When i first read this, i thought the comparison was between the actions of the trapeze artists (routine) vs the actions of the circus clowns (antics)

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Sorry for taking a while to respond to this. The comparison in this sentence is given by the phrase "In contrast to x, y." Make up another example yourself and I think you'll see this.