Again, I don't know all the constraints, but clause boundaries are not the only ones that block coreference. Consider: a. Near him, Dan saw a snake. (him can equal Dan) b. Near Dan, he saw a snake. (he does not equal Dan) The initial element here is a preposed adverbial prepositional phrase -- there is no clause boundary between antecedent and pronoun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ** "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~