The second question involves the use of modifier. In general, the noun modifier (过去分词) must precede or follow immediately after the noun it modifies. For example,
“Shocked by the bad news, Emily ate two hotdogs.” Here, “shocked” clearly modifies “Emily”
“Emily ate two hotdogs, shocked by the bad news” Here, “shocked” modifies “hotdogs”
This rule is generally followed by GMAC. Let’s also look at one example from OG.
Verbal Review 1st Ed. 91 “In theory, international civil servants at the UN are prohibited from continuing to draw salaries from their own governments; in practice, however, some governments merely substitute living allowances for their employee’s paychecks, assigned by them to the United Nations.”
OG explains “assigned by them incorrectly and illogically modifiers paychecks”
Now let’s look at the second sentence:
"Tom nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence.
(The phrase modifies Tom, not woman.) "
By the same token, “alarmed by her silence” modifies “the woman”, right?However, here the issue gets complicated. Because by default we know that Tom is a guy, therefore, “her” CANNOT refer back to Tom. Otherwise we will have a nonsensical sentence that reads "Tom nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her [Tom’s] silence."
Let’s change the sentence a little bit, and now it reads:
"Sarah nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence."
Now the noun modifier “alarmed by her silence” will unambiguously modifiers “the woman.” The sentence read “Sarah nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her [Sarah’s] silencFor this reason, I’d argue that the second sentence is an exception and that tt is not really a good example. Here is a better way to write the sentence: "Alarmed by her silence, Tom nervously watched the woman." “Alarmed by her” clearly modifies “Tom.”
So here is the catch: In general, the noun modifier (过去分词) must precede or follow immediately after the noun it modifies, as the GMAC generally follows this rule.
-- by 会员 silent7706 (2010/5/28 1:39:02)
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发表于 2010-8-5 22:01:18
