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Jacky77 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Feel confused by this. Need help

I'am pretty confused by the following sentence.

1.We refer to the letter from the third party dated 3rd March 2005 regarding.....
or
2. We refer to the letter dated 3rd March 2005 from the third party regarding.....

Which one of the above is the correct one. Can they be used interchangeably?

I'm afraid that the date (3rd March 2005 ) used in the first sentence is mistakenly referring to the third party, instead of the letter.

Thanks,
Jacky
  

Top answer

Because a 'third party' cannot be referred to by a date, there is no confusion of the sort you mention, and the sentences are interchangable. That sort of danger does of course exist, and should be looked for when arranging the parts of a written sentence. Generally it is wise to have the modifiers as close to their referents as possible, so 'letter dated' is a better choice.

— Mister Micawber

  • Because a 'third party' cannot be referred to by a date, there is no confusion of the sort you mention, and the sentences are interchangable.
  • That sort of danger does of course exist, and should be looked for when arranging the parts of a written sentence.
  • Generally it is wise to have the modifiers as close to their referents as possible, so 'letter dated' is a better choice.
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1 Answers
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Because a 'third party' cannot be referred to by a date, there is no confusion of the sort you mention, and the sentences are interchangable. That sort of danger does of course exist, and should be looked for when arranging the parts of a written sentence. Generally it is wise to have the modifiers as close to their referents as possible, so 'letter dated' is a better choice.
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