Perry Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 "It concerns the child of a friend, who continues to be heartbroken and mystified." So who is heartbroken and mystified- the child or the friend? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 So who is heartbroken and mystified- the child or the friend? Thank you. It is the child who is heartbroken and mystified--but the sentence is somewhat ambiguous. It is the comma that makes me think that the pronoun 'who' refers to the child. Without the comma I think that it would refer to the friend. Either way, a sentence with an ambiguous pronoun antecedent is, patently, poorly written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I read it as the child is heartbroken and mystified. There are probably other posters who can given the grammatical definition, but I see "child of a friend" as the subject of the sentence. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Isn't this the dreaded dangling participle? Rewriting it as "It concerns a friend's child, who continues to be heartbroken and mystified." would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 It is the child who is heartbroken and mystified--but the sentence is somewhat ambiguous. It is the comma that makes me think that the pronoun 'who' refers to the child. Without the comma I think that it would refer to the friend. Either way, a sentence with an ambiguous pronoun antecedent is, patently, poorly written. Thanks. The author clearly meant for the friend to be heartbroken (the child committed suicide) but I interpreted it the same way you did. Maybe since the context makes it so obvious, it's acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet in WA Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) So who is heartbroken and mystified- the child or the friend? Thank you.If the intended meaning is that the friend is the mystified one, you need to lose the comma. As I taught my sons, the sentence needs to make sense without the reader needing to know the intent (or the context). Edited July 21, 2009 by Janet in WA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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