Misplaced modifiers yet again

[Neal Whitman]

The modifier, though misleading, might not be dangling. The wife *was*
facing a grim medical diagnosis: her husband's.

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 2:03 PM
Subject: Misplaced modifiers yet again


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Misplaced modifiers yet again
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The headline to the "Coupling" column in today's Boston Globe Sunday
> Magazine:
>
> "You Complete Me: Facing a grim medical diagnosis, my twin sister
> gave her husband the ultimate gift."
>
> Anticipating an uplifting story of a loving but dying wife's gift of
> an essential organ to her severely ill husband, I read the whole
> essay -- only to discover that the wife was quite healthy.  (She gave
> one of her kidneys to relieve her husband's polycystic kidney disease.)
>
> I feel cheated.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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