adverbial clause

[riverkid]

Could this,

We went along a dirt road that led down into a valley, about a mile out of town, where there was a pond.

not be interpreted to mean,

"About a mile out of town, [at the place] where there was a pond, we went along a dirt road that led down into a valley."

[Mariner]

That's true,and I guess that's why I tend to make the distinction I mentioned earlier. Because in this case, where there was a pond, doesn't seem to be modifying valley. IMO, at least.

[riverkid]

'Tis true, so true that context is important to intended meaning, eh, Mariner, Mike, Jiang?

Who can definitively know what the intended meaning was?

[jiang]

Dear riverkid,

Sorry I wasn't able to surf the Internet because the website station broke. I posted the question because I doubted the explanation. And I think it is an attributive clause.

Best wishes,

Jiang

'Tis true, so true that context is important to intended meaning, eh, Mariner, Mike, Jiang?

Who can definitively know what the intended meaning was?

[MikeNewYork]

Dear riverkid,

Sorry I wasn't able to surf the Internet because the website station broke. I posted the question because I doubted the explanation. And I think it is an attributive clause.

Best wishes,

Jiang

It is, of course, possible that the intent of the original sentence was different from the meaning that was conveyed. As it is written, however, I agree with you that the clause seems to be attributive.

[riverkid]

It is, of course, possible that the intent of the original sentence was different from the meaning that was conveyed. As it is written, however, I agree with you that the clause seems to be attributive.

Context context context and finally, context.

I agree that we'll never know unless we can track down the speaker. If this is an isolated sentence from some grammar book/test, then we're SOL.

Don't you think that as a written example, it is less than felicitous, Mike? It sounds more like speech to me. The placement of the adverbial phrase, "about a mile out of town" sounds odd. Was the start of the dirt road or the valley 'about a mile out of town'.

I think that this could easily be viewed as speech, where the speaker has forgotten part of the description and adds it as an afterthought

We went along a dirt road that led down into a valley -- [that was] about a mile out of town, where there was a pond [which was where we went down into the valley].

I'd like to make it clear that I'm certainly not suggesting that yours and Jiang's idea is any less possible.

[MikeNewYork]

Context context context and finally, context.

I agree that we'll never know unless we can track down the speaker. If this is an isolated sentence from some grammar book/test, then we're SOL.

Don't you think that as a written example, it is less than felicitous, Mike? It sounds more like speech to me. The placement of the adverbial phrase, "about a mile out of town" sounds odd. Was the start of the dirt road or the valley 'about a mile out of town'.

I think that this could easily be viewed as speech, where the speaker has forgotten part of the description and adds it as an afterthought

We went along a dirt road that led down into a valley -- [that was] about a mile out of town, where there was a pond [which was where we went down into the valley].

All of that is possible. Yet, we have to deal with the sentence we have.