forward/backward pronominalization

1. Near him, John discovered a wasp's nest. (Prof. Tang's sentence)
2. Near John, he discovered a wasp's nest. (my own)
#1 is supposed to be correct. Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?

Who is Professor Tang?

I presume that you mean that John and he refer to the same person. If that's the case, then no.

5jj said:

Who is Professor Tang?

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Prof. Tang is one of the few pioneering scholars who introduced generative linguistics to Taiwan, after having earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin. Prof. Tang made an invaluable contribution to the field of linguistics in Taiwan and, needless to say, his passing away is a great loss for the linguistic community as a whole. Our institute expresses the sincerest condolences at the news of his sudden death. May he rest in peace.
https://ling.site.nthu.edu.tw/p/406-1400-187636,r5972.php?Lang=en
#1 is quoted from Essays on English Grammar and Rhetoric: From Traditional to Modern, written by Prof. Tang.

sitifan said:

1. Near him, John discovered a wasp's nest. (Prof. Tang's sentence)
2. Near John, he discovered a wasp's nest. (my own)
#1 is supposed to be correct. Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?

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In the first one, "him" might refer to John, but it also might refer to someone else. In the second one, "he" certainly refers to somebody, but we don't know who.

sitifan said:

#1 is quoted from Essays on English Grammar and Rhetoric: From Traditional to Modern, written by Prof. Tang.

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That information should have been given in the first post.

They both seem correct and natural to me, but they differ in meaning. In 1 I would assume that "him" refers to John himself. In 2 I'd assume that the discoverer is someone other than John, as @Tarheel said.

sitifan said:

#1 is quoted from Essays on English Grammar and Rhetoric: From Traditional to Modern, written by Prof. Tang.

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You have been here long enough to know that we need this information in POST #1! Honestly, I'm getting really tired of having to remind people of the importance of the source information.