Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I hate stacked modifiers

Found online: The Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford announced Sunday that he would have season-ending surgery to his right shoulder in hopes of entering April’s N.F.L. draft.

The beginning of the sentence is what we call a stacked modifier.

Many newspapers would change that to this:

Sam Bradford, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Oklahoma,... It would be a lot cleaner and easier to read. Besides, I like to get the person's name up front.


Contact: Reach me at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com.

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