posthumously

[Victor Steinbok]

  There is a slight problem with the distributive syntax in the
following sentence:

> Baker and six other black World War II veterans received medals
> posthumously at a 1997 White House ceremony.

Looking at this sentence alone, would it be fair to conclude that the
medals were awarded to all seven veterans after they were already dead?
Unfortunately, "posthumously" here refers only to "six other ...
veterans" and not to Baker--the line comes in the middle of an article
about a recent abruptly unsuccessful visit of Baker's family to the
White House, following Vernon Baker's death in July of this year. So the
1997 award was not "posthumous" for Baker.

The article, which I received by email, is credited to Fox News, but I
have not looked for the original on-line.

     VS-)

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