How does one re-create examples of a squinting modifier? I read this sentence as an example, "Children who laugh rarely are shy." I tried to create another example but could not. Does it occur when you place a modifier incorrectly in a copula sentence?
gosh, I'd not heard that one before. so I LIU and here's what Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage has to say:
An ambiguous modifier (usually an adverb) that appears to qualify the words both before and after it.
A squinting modifier can usually be corrected by changing its position in the sentence.
so, "speakers who pause briefly refocus their listeners."
An ambiguous modifier (usually an adverb) that appears to qualify the words both before and after it.
so, "speakers who pause briefly refocus their listeners."
Thank you! That makes it a lot clearer.
squinting modifiers
They seem tangentially related to garden path sentences: e.g., "the horse raced past the barn fell."
Sometimes wiping your glasses thoroughly solves the problem.
With tsu-s's and olly's eg, then it occurs when an adverb is sandwiched by two verbs. Okay I made one sentence: People who speak seldom seem smart. Thanks, y'all.
They might be caused by people who are worried that putting an adverb before its verb might lead to splitting infinitives.
Yes. Infinitives should not be split except by Captain Kirk. They hang heavy on the conscience.
They might be caused by people who are worried that putting an adverb before its verb might lead to splitting infinitives.
Yes, but if you split the infinitive you solve the problem. That way the adverb can only be construed as modifying the split infinitive.
I was thinking of it as sort of a fence law. One example would be the Southern Baptist prohibition on sex standing up because it might lead to dancing.