use of 'respectively'

Question

It is okay to say

A and B correspond to C and D, respectively.

But, is it okay to say

They correspond to C and D, respectively?

Here implicitly it is assumed that 'they' represents 'A and B'. The concern is that, it could also be 'B and A'.

Answer 1

To use

respectively

there needs to be a 1-to-1 correspondence between the two lists so the match in the proper ordering. Your sentence as it stands

They correspond to C and D, respectively.

is ambiguous, however with additional context

A and B are managers at the company.
They correspond to C and D, respectively.

A would be paired with C and B would be paired with D.