[color=red]1-His incompetence angered his superiors so much that it lead to his losing his position.
[color=blue]2-His incompetence angered his superiors enough that it lead to his losing his position.
[color=indigo]3-Can his incompetence anger his superiors enough to make it a threat to his position?
In the above sentences does “it” refer to:
a-his incompetence
or:
b-the fact that his superiors were angered?
Gratefully,
Navi.
Hi Navi,
I would say that ‘it’ refers to ‘incompetence’. If you refer to the consequences or existence of the incompetence, you would use ‘this’. Just a couple of points: the past tense of ‘lead’ is ‘led’. I would also rephrase 2 -
His incompetence angered his superiors TO SUCH AN EXTENT that it LED to his losing his position.
In my opinion in all of them ‘it’ is most likely to refer to his incompetence (but there is some ambiguity).