0
Navitasan Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Dangling?

1-The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, recently deceased, tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity.
2-The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, deceased, tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity.

Are "recently deceased" and "deceased" dangling in these sentences or not?

I found the first sentence here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/

Gratefully,
Navi.
  

Top answer

No, they are not danglers. The first one is proper, but the second is clunky—it wants an adverb (I can't believe I said that) like "recently", "now" or "long". ".

— Enoon

  • No, they are not danglers.
  • The first one is proper, but the second is clunky—it wants an adverb (I can't believe I said that) like "recently", "now" or "long".
  • ".
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0
No, they are not danglers. The first one is proper, but the second is clunky—it wants an adverb (I can't believe I said that) like "recently", "now" or "long". The bare "deceased" has the same impact as what the construction is used to avoid: "The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed dead mathematician ...".
0
0
I would have composed it this way:

The daughter of a recently deceased mathematician, who was brilliant but mentally disturbed, tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity.

By the way, I've heard an audio production of the play, and it is quite powerful.
0

Related Questions