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PeterC Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Number/Reference: "each of them...one of the..."
"The runners, each of them reputed to be one of the fastest in the world, moved to their starting blocks."
Is that sentence correctly formed in relation to number and reference? Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"? It would seem so. Nevertheless, the sentence feels wrong to me - not only in terms of style (to me it feels clumsy) but even in terms of proper grammatical/logical structure.
"The runners, each reputed to be among the world's fastest, moved to their starting blocks" seems to me a solid improvement. However, I've been contradicted by those who deem themselves in the know, one criticism being that my proposed rewrite "leads to a clash of metaphorical and literal meanings" (frankly, I have no idea what the critic was referring to).
Any and all elucidations appreciated.
Is that sentence correctly formed in relation to number and reference? Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"? It would seem so. Nevertheless, the sentence feels wrong to me - not only in terms of style (to me it feels clumsy) but even in terms of proper grammatical/logical structure.
"The runners, each reputed to be among the world's fastest, moved to their starting blocks" seems to me a solid improvement. However, I've been contradicted by those who deem themselves in the know, one criticism being that my proposed rewrite "leads to a clash of metaphorical and literal meanings" (frankly, I have no idea what the critic was referring to).
Any and all elucidations appreciated.
Top answer
" Is that sentence correctly formed in relation to number and reference? -- Yes Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"? -- Yes.
- " Is that sentence correctly formed in relation to number and reference?
- -- Yes Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"?
- -- Yes.
- It would seem so.
- -- I cannot agree, sorry; it seems well-written.
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2 Answers
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"The runners, each of them reputed to be one of the fastest in the world, moved to their starting blocks." Is that sentence correctly formed in relation to number and reference?-- Yes
Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"?-- Yes.
It would seem so. Nevertheless, the sentence feels wrong to me - not only in terms of style (to me it feels clumsy) but eve
Can "each of them" be "one of the fastest"?-- Yes.
It would seem so. Nevertheless, the sentence feels wrong to me - not only in terms of style (to me it feels clumsy) but eve
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My personal opinion is that the original is better with "each of whom". If we replace the comma after runners and world in the original with an em dash, then the sentence becomes better, in my opinion.
The runners--each of them reputed to be one of the fastest in the world--moved to their starting blocks.
The runners, each of whom were/are reputed t
The runners--each of them reputed to be one of the fastest in the world--moved to their starting blocks.
The runners, each of whom were/are reputed t
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