Right you are, Bruce. I was just reading about Henry Clay and jumped to
conclusions.

Frick may have been America's most hated man, but I always had kind
thoughts when visiting his mansion and art collection in NYC.

Dick


On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 11:47 AM, Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dick & John,
>
> Henry Clay Frick, the industrialist, was indeed born in 1849 (December
> 19).
> Am I right to assume that the awkward noun phrase is a sentence fragment,
> apparently the title of an illustration or picture?
> The reference to "this day," however, makes me think maybe not.
> The adjective phrase (participle) modifying *man*, which is a part of the
> quotative phrase (itself another fragment), is not really a very smooth
> style.  I think I would want to rewrite it:
>
> *The stunning mansion of 'the most hated man in America' (who was born on
> this day in 1849).*
>
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> From: Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: modifier placement
> Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2013 11:23:47 -0500
>
>   There are two possible interpretations:
>
> 1)   ...mansion [...man] [born...], where both phrases are modifiers of
> "mansion"
> 2)   ...mansion [ [...man] [born...] ], where the first phrase modifies
> "mansion" and the second modifies [man]
>
> Both are grammatical, but grammaticality counts for little if the result
> is ambiguous and unclear. The result here is actually worse than ambiguous.
> Because "born" is generally used with people and not buildings, most
> readers are likely to assume the second reading, i.e., that Clay was born
> in 1849. Since this is not true (he was born in 1777), the writer has done
> a poor job indeed. If he had used "built" instead of "born," the problem
> would have been less likely to have arisen.
>
> Best holiday wishes.
> Dick
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 7:34 AM, John Chorazy <[log in to unmask]
> > wrote:
>
>  Happy Holidays to all...
>
> I can infer that the intent of the phrase below suggests that "the most
> hated man in America" (referring to Henry Clay Frick) was born "on this
> day" etc. But can I defend in grammatical terms that this is a misplaced
> modifier suggesting that the mansion was born on this day? Thank you and
> best wishes...
>
>
> *The stunning mansion of 'the most hated man in America,' born on this day
> in 1849.*
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>  John Chorazy
> English I and III, Academic and Honors
> Advisor, *Panther Press* and Co-advisor, *Folio*
> Pequannock Township High School
> 973.616.6000
>
>
> Noli Timere
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or
> leave the list"
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or
> leave the list"
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or
> leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/