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Mehdi kord Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

A wonderful baker, Sally

Q: Could you illustrate the semantic difference between these two sentences?

I) A wonderful baker, Sally made fresh muffins for her friends.

II) Sally, the wonderful baker, made fresh muffins for her friends.
  

Top answer

mehdi kord A wonderful baker, Sally made fresh muffins for her friends. This is semantically imperfect. When you start a sentence that way, what follows has to relate closely to the introductory material.

— Anonymous

  • mehdi kord A wonderful baker, Sally made fresh muffins for her friends.
  • This is semantically imperfect.
  • When you start a sentence that way, what follows has to relate closely to the introductory material.
  • As wonderful as she might be as a baker, her wonderfulness has no bearing on the fact that she made muffins.
  • " mehdi kord Sally, the wonderful baker, made fresh muffins for her friends.
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2 Answers
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mehdi kordA wonderful baker, Sally made fresh muffins for her friends.

This is semantically imperfect. When you start a sentence that way, what follows has to relate closely to the introductory material. As wonderful as she might be as a baker, her wonderfulness has no bearing on the fact that she made muffins. An example of the proper way is "A big-hearted

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The only semantic difference I pick up on is the difference between 'a' and 'the'. The position of the 'baker' phrase before or after 'Sally' doesn't strike me as a semantic difference, but a stylistic one.

In other words, if both had 'a', I wouldn't see any semantic difference, and if both had 'the', I wouldn't see any semantic difference.

'a' is generic, and 'the' is specific.

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