they

[Shinya Maki]

Hello everyone.

The following passage is from a news story.
Who does the personal pronoun “they” in the last sentence refer to?

E-mail may have revolutionized our communication, making it faster, easier, more practical. But that doesn't mean the handwritten note is dead. Instead, the act of putting pen to paper seems to have gained in currency. Now, it's what you do to say something special, or heartfelt, or really important.
　　It's not a question of being e-mail ignorant. Walker, a history professor in South Carolina, spends lots of time on the Internet. But that's just the point. She could easily e-mail her college friend, Janet, but instead they choose entertaining postcards, and dash off a few personal notes, once or even a few times a week.

(http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/news/celebrity/sns-ap-pen-to-paper,0,3719718.story?coll=mmx-celebrity_heds)

Best regards,
Shinya Maki

[Rusty]

Hello everyone.

The following passage is from a news story.
Who does the personal pronoun “they” in the last sentence refer to?

E-mail may have revolutionized our communication, making it faster, easier, more practical. But that doesn't mean the handwritten note is dead. Instead, the act of putting pen to paper seems to have gained in currency. Now, it's what you do to say something special, or heartfelt, or really important.
　　It's not a question of being e-mail ignorant. Walker, a history professor in South Carolina, spends lots of time on the Internet. But that's just the point. She could easily e-mail her college friend, Janet, but instead they choose entertaining postcards, and dash off a few personal notes, once or even a few times a week.

(http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/news/celebrity/sns-ap-pen-to-paper,0,3719718.story?coll=mmx-celebrity_heds)

Best regards,
Shinya Maki

She could easily e-mail her college friend, Janet, but instead they choose entertaining postcards, and dash off a few personal notes, once or even a few times a week.
The writer means Janet and her friend. The way the sentence is written leaves the reader wondering. A better composition would be: She and her friend college, Janet, could easily e-mail each other, but they choose entertaining postcards and dash off personal notes once or even a few times a week.

[justlovelyfriends]

She could easily e-mail her college friend, Janet, but instead they choose entertaining postcards, and dash off a few personal notes, once or even a few times a week.



I agree with Rusty, they refers to Janet and her college friend.

;)