EDITOR@WORK: stacking modifiers

FOUND ONLINE: Fon Du Lac, Wis.-based hotshot owner-operator Greg Cutler says he can run his gas-fueled 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 at 85 cents per mile, much less than what the average Class 8 operator will spend.

I hate a stacked modifier. I'd move the name to the front and add commas.

Greg Cutler, a Fon Du Lac, Wis.-based hotshot owner-operator, says he can run his gas-fueled 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 at 85 cents per mile, much less than what the average Class 8 operator will spend.

Just so you know, I was looking up the term hotshot trucking.

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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.

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