Monday, June 8, 2009

Misplaced modifier and relative pronoun in the wrong case


Nicknamed the Bard of Avon, his plays have been translated into dozens of languages and continue to be adapted for new audiences.

This expression is used by Lady Macbeth to describe her husband whom she fears is too nice to push his way onto the throne of Scotland.

The above two sentences are taken from an article in a column promoting the correct use of English published by a popular national English daily.

To the editor of the column, I have sent my following comments which have received no response:-

I would recast the first sentence as "Nicknamed the Bard of Avon, he has written plays that have been translated into dozens of languages and continue to be adapted for new audiences" to avoid a misplaced modifier and the second as "This expression is used by Lady Macbeth to describe her husband who she fears is too nice to push his way onto the throne of Scotland' to correct the relative pronoun which should be in the subjective case.

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