How many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

Question

How many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?Hello, is the above sentence grammatically correct? It seems strange to me. If so, what grammatical piece is it using? I would have written it like this instead.How many students who graduate from university are totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

VinhPCHow many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

Hello, is the above sentence grammatically correct?

Yes.

VinhPCI would have written it like this instead.

How many students who graduate from university are totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

That puts the modifiers in a different place.

The main clause asks how many students graduate from university.

totally unable to spell ... describes (in an adverbial expression) how the students graduate from university, namely, in the state of being totally unable to spell ....

An alternate analysis has it that totally unable to spell ... describes the students (in an adjectival expression), thus:

How many students totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly graduate from university?

But because that modifier of students is so long (underlined above), it is moved to the end of the sentence.

Here are a few similar sentences.

Phyllis broke into the conversation eager to share her opinion.
Tom withdrew from the chemistry program dissatisfied with the whole experience.
His cousin offered her condolences, terribly sad to hear of the death in the family.

CJ

How many students graduate from university totally unable to spell even simple English words correctly?

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