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The sentence in question is:

An X microphone can sense a Y speaker vibrating with a high frequency up to a limit determined by its elastic sensitivity.

Does possessive pronoun its here clearly refer to X microphone ? Or any chance the reader is confused to assume it refers to Y.

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  • Your sentence is ambiguous. To be clear, it needs to read: An X microphone can sense a Y speaker vibrating with a high frequency up to a limit determined by the microphone's elastic sensitivity
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 9:24
  • Please update your comment as an answer. Thanks.
    – Karsun
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 9:27

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Your sentence is ambiguous.

To be clear, it needs to read: An X microphone can sense a Y speaker vibrating with a high frequency up to a limit determined by the microphone's elastic sensitivity

An expert in the field might well be aware that only microphones have elastic sensitivity (if indeed this is the case) and that the description could not apply to the speaker. But Mr/s Average certainly wouldn't and could easily misinterpret the meaning.

This is particularly relevant as the last item referred to is the speaker rather than the microphone.

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    Your rewriting is definitely better, but ensuring the referent of a pronoun is unambiguous is something that native speakers get wrong all the time. They usually rely on context to clarify the meaning. I am not an expert in the field, but it was obvious to me that the sensitivity belonged to the microphone (microphones have sensitivity; loudspeakers have responsiveness).
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 9:46
  • @MartinBonner You definitely fit into my first category. In spite of spending the better part of my working life in radio and tv studios, I confess that I might have had to think twice. PS.There was always a techie on the far side of the glass pressing the buttons and pulling the levers.
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 12:01

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