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The following letter to the editor appeared in this morning's Telegraph:

----------------------------------------------------

SIR -- as a schoolboy, when learning of the importance of precise
punctuation, I was shown the following two statements:

"Woman without her man is useless."

"Woman! Without her, man is useless!"

As a happily married man, my wife assures me that the second statement
has the ring of truth.

Thomas Wingate,
London W2

------------------------------------------------------

The second curiousity about this letter is that the fellow's wife is, apparently, a happily married man.

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The Importance of Avoiding Dangling Participles

res ipse loquitur

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Father Steve, you make me smile! Gracias.

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Quote:

… the fellow's wife is, apparently, a happily married man.




It always amazes me how you prescrips will go to such lengths to willfully misunderstand a perfectly comprehensible sentence.

#156889 03/09/06 12:41 PM
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Quote:

Quote:

… the fellow's wife is, apparently, a happily married man.




It always amazes me how you prescrips will go to such lengths to willfully misunderstand a perfectly comprehensible sentence.




Comprehensible, schmomprehensible. I had to read it twice.

#156890 03/09/06 03:03 PM
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Aktully, I didn't get the 'ambiguity;' I thought Father Steve was throwing in an extra bit of information at the end. But then I'm from New York.

Last edited by inselpeter; 03/09/06 03:04 PM.
#156891 03/09/06 03:56 PM
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Ditto, 'cept I'm from Kentucky.


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