Untrammeled

Question

"He can go anywhere in this country untrammeled."
"This will lead to the creation of an autocratic government, one that could do anything to its people[,] untrammeled."

I know that the first sentence works and that 'untrammeled' modifies 'He.' But I am not sure about whether the second sentence works with 'untrammeled' deployed this way, with or without a comma before it.

No doubt there are many different ways to express the same meaning, but I am chiefly concerning myself with the use of the word 'untrammeled' and this particular sentence structure.

Thank you very much.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The word 'untrammeled' is almost archaic. In my opinion, its use is unnatural and a distraction to the reader.

Clive

Avangi · Answer

SuperESL"He can go anywhere in this country untrammeled."

May I question your second assumption? I may be wrong, but my ear tells me that in "traveling untrammeled," "untrammeled" is adverbial.

In my opinion, both the sentences are correct, with or without the bracketed comma (I'd leave it out).

With the word coming at the end of the sentence in both cases, it may be argued that it's a "sentential adverb," modifying the whole sentence, or at least the whole clause.

- A.

SuperESL · Answer

Thank you for referring me to that previous thread. I was never aware of the concept of a 'sentential adverb' before. I thought all adverbs modified verbs, and that's all there was to it. But then an example raised in the thread does seem to challenge this idea:

Foolishly, I wrote to her.
I wrote foolishly to her.

What 'foolishly' does in each of these sentences is obviously different. In the first sentence it seems to describe the act of writing - the whole idea of writing to her was foolish. In the second sentence it seems to describe the contents of what was written - what I wrote was foolish even if the idea of writing to her might not have been.

Which makes me wonder: are all those 'firstly,' 'most importantly,' 'most pertinently,' and so on, with which one often begins a sentence, all sentential adverbs?

If yes, then why is it the case that sometimes people begin a sentence not with 'firstly,' but with 'first'; not 'most importantly,' but 'most important; and so on?

This is all quite thought-provoking for me.
Thank you.

Avangi · Answer

SuperESLThis is all quite thought-provoking for me.

For me too! I learned the concept here on EF from CJ! It seems to be relatively new.

Your question about the adverbial form is a good one. I wish I could give you a good answer.

- A.

Untrammeled

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions