Biber et. al. suggest that initial placement of adverbials is often
motivated by information flow, the usual ordering of given first, new
last. Initial adverbials often have "scope over the entire clause," as
they do in the "early hours before dawn" example. (Consider, for
example, "Civilized men fight with gossip", where "with gossip" is
more tied to the verb.) They also sometimes "have scope over
subsequent clauses for a particular reason: they introduce a new
scenario, like a stage setting the scene for a play." These are often
oriented toward time and space. "On the other side of the fence, the
upper part of the field was full of rabbit holes." "Last week, he
promised that there would be no more boom and bust." (their examples.)
Presumably, the writer might want to contrast one side of the fence
with another or contrast last week's statement with one from another
time.
>
Craig

 "In the early hours just before dawn, the smell of bacon infuses the air
> and flavors it with memories of childhood."
>
> I don't see how you can argue there is an "error" here: it is perfectly
> acceptable to front time adverbs (although their default position is
> final).
>
> Perhaps the sentence sounds a bit awkward because you expect something
> more static after "in the early hours just before dawn", something like
> "the air is still and cold".
>
> Just my (non-native) take on it,
> Marie
>
>
>> My own impression of this sentence is that the error isn't as blatant
>> but
>> can be clarified nonetheless: "The smell of bacon infuses the air in the
>> early hours before dawn and flavors it with memories of childhood," or
>> something near that... a compound predicate with prepositional phrases
>> as
>> adverbs following both verbs.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> > However, a collague insists that it is, pointing out that the
>>> introductory> prepositional phrase is modifying the noun phrase
>>> subject in this
>>> > construction (instead of the verb phrase). My intuition tells
>>> me that
>>> > adverbial modifiers can break the dangling modifier rule
>>> though, or is this
>>> > only in spoken English? Is the adverbial modifier too far away
>>> from its verb
>>> > here? Would you consider this incorrect?
>>> >
>>> > Is this the same argument that surrounds the word "hopefully,"
>>> as in
>>> > "Hopefully, I'll pass the test"? I know that many linguists consider
>>> > "hopefully" in that example to be a sentence-level modifier
>>> and so
>>> > acceptable despite traditionalists' complaints.
>>> >
>>> > I'm confused, but that is not uncommon on a Wednesday morning
>>> (when I
>>> > forgot my coffee no less). I'm interested to see what other
>>> ATEGers think.
>>> >
>>> > John Alexander
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>>> >
>>>
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>>>
>>
>> John Chorazy
>> English III Academy, Honors, and Academic
>> Pequannock Township High School
>>
>> Nulla dies sine linea.
>>
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>>
>
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>

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