Carol, because this thread was on my mind this morning, I used a similar revised form of this sentence when I needed a passive sentence to illustrate topic/comment structure. Even without context, we can infer that the peninsula is the topic of conversation, and the fact that it is surrounded by Lake Superior is a comment/new information. The active form ("Lake Superior surrounds the Keweenaw Peninsula.") casts Lake Superior as the topic.

My student looked at me strangely. I asked, "Am I making any sense at all?" My student responded, "Oh yeah, I get what you're saying. But where in the world did you come up with that sentence?" Ha! I suppose it's not the average "The cat was chased by the dog" (wow, I just nominalized a whole sentence!).

John

On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Carol Morrison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
It seems logical that "surrounded on three sides" is redundant because a peninsula only has three sides. I'm going to go with the following revision:
 
 
The Keweenaw Peninsula is surrounded by Lake Superior.
 
Thanks again for the advice.
 
Carol


--- On Fri, 9/30/11, R. Michael Medley (ck) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: R. Michael Medley (ck) <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Word usage problem?
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, September 30, 2011, 8:23 AM

Notice, however, that we can't say that Florida (also a peninsula) is
surrounded on three sides by ONE body of water!  We might say

1. "Florida is a peninsula bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico."

2. "Florida is bounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of
Mexico."

3. PROBABLY NOT: "Florida is a peninsula bounded on three sides by the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico."

One wonders if students would be tempted to write number 3 as a way of
"displaying" their knowledge of geographical terms.  In fact, in earth
science or social studies, they may have learned the definition of
peninsula as "a body of land bounded by water on three sides."

As others have pointed out, the issue in the original sentence may be one
of redundancy, not an unforgivable sort of redundancy.  If I wanted
students to reduce wordiness or display economy of language, this is not
the sort of problem I would first turn my attention to.  The example,
however, does pose a critical thinking exercise that raises some awareness
of economy: why use 4 words when 1 will do?


R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University

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John

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