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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127577 04/20/04 06:55 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York AnnaStrophic OP Carpal Tunnel OP AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York California needs to get a grip on its legal system: "After serving more than five years for the VCR offense, a federal judge released Ramirez in 2002 under reasoning the appeals court affirmed Monday." http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y23512418 Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127578 04/20/04 07:02 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 There we go with topic vs. subject again. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127579 04/20/04 07:19 PM Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC "After serving more than five years for the VCR offense, a federal judge released Ramirez in 2002 under reasoning the appeals court affirmed Monday." This is nothing short of laziness. There are a bunch of ways to recast this. "A federal judge released Ramirez in 2002 after he had served more than five years in prison for stealing a $199 VCR. The appeals court agreed with the judge's reason for overturning the sentence." "Ramires, who had served more than five years of a 25-year sentence, was released in 2002 by a Federal judge who ruled that the punishment did not fit the crime." It's really so easy to get it right, and actually (to me) rather harder to get it wrong, but then most of us understand the finer nuances of English, something the reporter obviously did not. TEd Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127580 04/20/04 08:44 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York AnnaStrophic OP Carpal Tunnel OP AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York Well, both your solutions fix the problem, TEd, but create new ones: the first is too wordy, and the second uses the passive voice. Yet I still like the passive-voice phrasing most of the three. It is indeed a question of subject vs. topic. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127581 04/20/04 11:01 PM Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC Asp: I started to comment on the passive voice when I wrote those two replacement suggestions, then decided not to. Like you, I don't like the passive voice, mbut there are times when it comes in pretty handy. I have written entire pay entitlement manuals ( several hundred pages of regulations!) with absolutely no passive voice in them, but I'll admit there were times when it would have been easier to use it. TEd TEd Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127582 04/21/04 12:15 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky California needs to get a grip , period. As to news reporting, has anyone else detected what seems to be an increase in the use of...colloquial words, for lack of a better term. Yesterday one of our local newscasters reported that somebody had "busted into" somewhere; and there was something similar not too long ago that I can't recall right now. Do you-all think this is a good thing, or not? It sounds pretty unprofessional to me. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127583 04/21/04 01:17 PM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont I don't like it, Jackie, because it only pushes colloquial further down. pretty soon we'll just be grunting... formerly known as etaoin... Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127584 04/21/04 01:19 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 This seems to me just another case of working too hard to misunderstand something. If you have to work harder to misunderstand it than you would to 'fix' it, then reanalyze your understanding of grammar. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced modifiers... #127585 04/21/04 01:22 PM Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California J jheem veteran jheem veteran J Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California After serving more than five years for the VCR offense, a federal judge released Ramirez in 2002 under reasoning the appeals court affirmed Monday. The reporter probably wrote: "After serving more than five years for the VCR offense, Ramirez was released by a federal judge in 2002 under reasoning the appeals court affirmed Monday." But some editor tsk-tsked the use of the passive, and it was changed. Whenever somebody deprecates the usa of the passive, I wonder aloud how come so many languages developed one in the first place? Now ergative languages have an anti-passive. Cool. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Speaking of misplaced passivefiers... #127586 04/21/04 01:26 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 In some technical writing the use of the active instead of the passive produces horribly strained syntax. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. 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