Monday, August 3, 2009

Grimly Amusing Misplaced Modifier

The increased incidence of misplaced modifiers in the popular media is a bit of a sore point with me. Sometimes, they're good for a chuckle. Far too often, though, they completely change the meaning of a sentence.

Consider these examples:

I only love her.
I love only her.


You just can't eat one.
You can't eat just one
.

In both cases, due to the different placement of a single word, the first and second variants have totally different meanings.

The British tabloid The Sun, which presumably ought to know better (after all, English is their mother tongue), informs us that an "Aide 'killed' Jacko with Demerol hit as Doctor Murray slept."

It's just one more segment of a sad and tragic story, of course, but if you look about halfway down in The Sun's article, you'll find this gem:
Dr Murray is said to have told Los Angeles police about administering Propofol two days after Jacko died on June 25.
Sigh.

Sun editors, did Dr. Murray really administer the Propofol two days after his patient died? Is it possible that you meant to tell us that "Two days after Jacko died on June 25, Dr Murray is said to have told Los Angeles police about administering Propofol?"

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