muddled referent

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 11, 2012, at 7:21 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
> When it was announced that Romney will "unveil" his VP pick Paul Ryan
> on/in front of USS Wisconsin, I knew someone was going to say it. And
> Steve Benen did not disappoint--within minutes, his post on the Ryan
> pick included this line:
>
>> The announcement will be in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin -- which
>> just happens to be Ryan's home state.
>
> The meaning is transparent, of course, but that's what creates the
> problem in the first place--had it not been, no one would try to phrase
> it this way. And the number of examples of this type is not negligible.

on my blog, here:

http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/proper-anaphoric-islands/

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