thousands of contact-tracing teams they require

[GoodTaste]

Does "they require" mean "the apps require"? Or does it refer to "the strategies require"?


=======================

In the toolkit of strategies to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, more countries are reaching for smartphone apps. When phones with such an app are close together, they exchange information — in some cases creating a log of who a phone’s owner has been near. These ‘contacts’ will be alerted if they have been close to an infected person. Such apps can complement a country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies — including testing, contact tracing, isolation and social distancing — but they cannot serve as a replacement for them, or the thousands of contact-tracing teams they require.

-from Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01264-1

 

[tedmc]

There is the ambiguity. The word could mean either.

 

[GoesStation]

A country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies. There is no ambiguity.

 

[tedmc]

A country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies. There is no ambiguity.

How so? Rule of proximity?

 

[GoesStation]

Such apps can complement a country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies but they cannot serve as a replacement for them, or the thousands of contact-tracing teams they require.

A country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies. There is no ambiguity.

How so? Rule of proximity?

I suppose so. I've shortened the quotation and underlined some more words while bolding others. Is it clear now?

 

[jutfrank]

How so? Rule of proximity?

No, it's not about proximity. I think post #5 shows why very clearly.

 

[GoesStation]

No, it's not about proximity. I think post #5 shows why very clearly.

I tried to figure out how I knew which pronoun referred to which noun phrase but quickly realized it was beyond me. Can you briefly shed some light on this?

 

[jutfrank]

I tried to figure out how I knew which pronoun referred to which noun phrase but quickly realized it was beyond me. Can you briefly shed some light on this?

Here:

Such apps can complement a country’s overall COVID-19 control strategies ... but they cannot serve as a replacement for them, or the thousands of contact-tracing teams they require.

I assume that the reference between the first two red phrases and the first two blue phrases is clear enough. That is, we can easily identify the two red phrases, and also identify the first two blue phrases.

With that grounding, the reference between the two red noun phrases and the final blue phrase (they) follows from the logical structure (via or) and the grammar of the relative clause.

1) Such apps cannot serve as a replacement for a country's overall COVID-19 control strategies.
2) Such apps cannot serve as a replacement for the thousands of contact-tracing teams (that) a country's overall COVID-19 control strategies require.

The relative clause can now basically be laid out as: A country's control strategies require thousands of contact-tracing teams.

Does that all follow?