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/