how good is your relationship with them?

Question

How many of your high school friends are you still in touch with and how good is your relationship with them?

Is the above sentence grammatical and meaningful?

Does 'them' refer to 'your high school friends' or to 'those of your high school friends you are still in touch with'?

I think it is the latter although grammatically it seems to be the former. Common sense makes one realize that if one is not with touch with someone one can't have a relationship with them.

Answer 1

The question of how pronouns get referred to noun phrases is a deep one in linguistics. Certainly it isn't governed by any simple grammar rule, and you always have to consider the meaning of the nouns (as a simple example, we often use the perceived gender of the people in a situation to interpret gendered pronouns)

So please go with your common sense here. "Them" must refer to the school friends that you are still in contact with.