On Fri, 4 Jul 2008 10:41:48 +0100, Andy Greener <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Most, if not all, humans have the ability to divine the correct >meaning from the context without giving it a second thought. Such deep >analysis and pedantry is reminiscent of more mechanistic thought >processes. You must remember that Adrian is from the New World and naturally favours modern, newfangled constructions over those traditional in insular English. Burchfield(1), in describing unattached (or dangling, hanging or misrelated) participles, points out that "It is a remarkable fact that criticism --- and ridicule --- of unattached participles did not begin until about a century ago. Historical grammarians --- Jespersen, Visser, and others --- and the *OED* cite clear examples from the Middle Ages onwards." He also says that "It must be admitted that unattached participles seldom lead to ambiguity." bjg (1) Burchfield, R W *The New Fowler's Modern English Usage" 3rd ed Oxford University Press 1996
