What Modifies a Prepositional Phrase ?

[spenser]

Dear teachers,

I found the following sentence in a newspaper headline:

Man molested daughter while she was asleep for 5 years.

1. Forgive me if I use the wrong linguistic terms, but am I right to say that the prepositional phrase (=for 5 years) is modified by the adverbial clause (=while she was asleep)?

2. If so, am I right to say, therefore that the meaning is, the daughter had been sleeping for five years?



If I recast the sentence, I should write one of the following:

a. A man, for five years, molested his daughter after she had fallen asleep.

b. A man molested his sleeping daughter for five years.


Thank you very much

 

[Raymott]

The adverbial clause "while she was asleep" modifies the verb "molested'. It specifies when the molesting occurred.

a. is very unnatural. b. is not much better than the original. If it's to stay as a headline, you wouldn't use a. or b. anyhow. How about: "Man molested daughter over five years while she slept." It's not perfect, but headlines rarely are.

 

[spenser]

a. is very unnatural. b. is not much better than the original. If it's to stay as a headline, you wouldn't use a. or b. anyhow. How about: "Man molested daughter over five years while she slept." It's not perfect, but headlines rarely are.

Thank you very much, Raymott. I should appreciate it if you explain why you think sentence (a) is unnatural? (What I have understood is prepositional phrases are "flexible", in that they can come in any part of a sentence, depending upon the emphasis. If so, could you tell me what [a] is unnatural?)

 

[Raymott]

It's unnatural because no one would say it, let alone use it as a headline.
Can you find an analogous sentence in a real newspaper?

 

[Skrej]

I find b) to be natural, as a sentence. I agree it wouldn't be used as headline, however.

 

[tedmc]

How about "Man repeatedly molested sleeping daughter"?

I think a headline should be short to catch the readers' attention.
Readers would be able to find out about the duration over which the act was carried out as they read on.

 

[Raymott]

How about "Man repeatedly molested sleeping daughter"?
Readers would be able to find out about the duration over which the act was carried out as they read on.

But that's cheating. What about "Man molested daughter". Likewise, the interested reader could get the details from the article.

 

[Phaedrus]

Man molested daughter while she was asleep for 5 years.

The passive transformation could come to the grammatical rescue of that unhappy headline:

Girl molested by father for 5 years while asleep.

That sentence contains one less word than the original, and its for-phrase is unambiguous.

 

[TheParser]

Man molested daughter while she was asleep for 5 years.

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Spenser:

I think that your question reminds all learners that the usual rule for a prepositional phrase is to place it as close as possible to the element that it modifies.

Thus, the ambiguity would be resolved by: MAN MOLESTED DAUGHTER FOR FIVE YEARS WHILE SHE WAS ASLEEP.

 

[spenser]

The passive transformation could come to the grammatical rescue of that unhappy headline:

Girl molested by father for 5 years while asleep.

That sentence contains one less word than the original, and its for-phrase is unambiguous.

Thank you very much, Phaedrus. Sorry for the late reply. I have a question concerning the sentence that you suggested: the appearance of "while asleep" at the end of that sentence seems to suggest, at least to me, that the girl was continuously asleep for five years. And, forgive me again, there now seems to be a certain ambiguity, too --- who was asleep? The father or the daughter? It looks like it can be either. Am I right?

What about, "Every night, for five years, a father molested his sleeping daughter." ?

 

[Rover_KE]

The meaning is clear enough to those with a modicum of common sense.

 

[spenser]

The meaning is clear enough to those with a modicum of common sense.

I didn't expect you to be so callously impertinent, Rover. It was rather gratuitous and uncharitable!

 

[Phaedrus]

Thank you very much, Phaedrus. Sorry for the late reply. I have a question concerning the sentence that you suggested:

Hello, spenser:

It isn't a sentence, actually. It was intended as a revision to the headline you gave; I simply retained the sentence-like punctuation in my version. I recommend going with TheParser's suggestion instead of mine, including its change to the punctuation and lettering. I remember asking myself shortly after I made my post whether I had overlooked the simple solution of moving the "for"-phrase, and indeed I had! There is no need to change to the passive.

the appearance of "while asleep" at the end of that sentence seems to suggest, at least to me, that the girl was continuously asleep for five years.

You list English as your native language. You might want to test your intuition by checking to see whether you have the same sense while looking at other, grammatically parallel sentences. Does the phrase "while running" in the sentence "He wore tennis shoes for five years while running" suggest to you that he was continuously running for five years. How about the phrase "while cold" in the sentence "He wore the same coat for five years while cold"?

And, forgive me again, there now seems to be a certain ambiguity, too --- who was asleep? The father or the daughter? It looks like it can be either. Am I right?

I don't think it's possible for the implied subject of "while asleep" to be the father in the headline I proposed. Consider a parallel case like "John was arrested by the policeman while drunk." Even if the policeman drinks (while) on duty, I don't think "while drunk" can refer to the policeman in such a sentence. It is true that the antecedent of "he" is ambiguous in the sentence "John was arrested by the policeman while he was drunk"; however, the "while"-clause in that sentence is not reduced.

 

[jutfrank]

I didn't expect you to be so callously impertinent, Rover. It was rather gratuitous and uncharitable!

What Rover said was in no way meant as callous, impertinent, gratuitous or uncharitable, spenser.

I completely agree with him that the sentence would be extremely unlikely to be misinterpreted.

 

[emsr2d2]

Had it been the father who was asleep in the original, it would have been made clear by using "in his sleep". As a headline, it would be something like:

For five years, man molested daughter in his sleep.

It probably sounds unlikely to many people but carrying out illegal actions in one's sleep has been used as defence in a handful of criminal cases.

 

[spenser]

Hello, spenser:

You list English as your native language. You might want to test your intuition by checking to see whether you have the same sense while looking at other, grammatically parallel sentences. Does the phrase "while running" in the sentence "He wore tennis shoes for five years while running" suggest to you that he was continuously running for five years. How about the phrase "while cold" in the sentence "He wore the same coat for five years while cold"?

I don't think it's possible for the implied subject of "while asleep" to be the father in the headline I proposed. Consider a parallel case like "John was arrested by the policeman while drunk." Even if the policeman drinks (while) on duty, I don't think "while drunk" can refer to the policeman in such a sentence. It is true that the antecedent of "he" is ambiguous in the sentence "John was arrested by the policeman while he was drunk"; however, the "while"-clause in that sentence is not reduced.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer. I appreciate it.

I understand that context contributes to meaning. The purpose of my asking that question was to understand how syntax informs semantics. Of course, when one uses logic, even the original sentence in my first post can be easily understood.

If you have the time, could you tell me whether my last sentence is an improvement to the original sentence, "Every night, for five years, a father molested his sleeping daughter." ?

Once again, thank you very much.

 

[spenser]

What Rover said was in no way meant as callous, impertinent, gratuitous or uncharitable, spenser.

I completely agree with him that the sentence would be extremely unlikely to be misinterpreted.

His insinuation is unlikely to be misinterpreted, in my book.

 

[jutfrank]

could you tell me whether my last sentence is an improvement to the original sentence, "Every night, for five years, a father molested his sleeping daughter." ?

It's an improvement in that this expanded form eliminates any possibility of ambiguity but it wouldn't work as a news headline.

 

[Phaedrus]

I understand that context contributes to meaning. The purpose of my asking that question was to understand how syntax informs semantics.

Hello again, spenser:

I actually did have syntax in mind, at least with regard to the implied subject of the reduced "while"-clause. I do not think that it is syntactically possible for "the policeman" to be interpreted as the implied subject of the "(while) drunk" in "John was arrested by the policeman while drunk." Just to show that I am not leaning on context to make my point, I shall change my example to the following:

The policeman was handcuffed by the drunkard while intoxicated.

I do not think that it is syntactically possible for the implied subject of "(while) intoxicated" to be "the drunkard" in that sentence. I think that, from a strict syntactic standpoint, it has to be the "the policeman," and that is how I understand the sentence. The sentence doesn't tell us whether the drunkard was intoxicated at the time he handcuffed the policeman. It does, however, tell us that the policeman was intoxicated.

Now you won't think that I am relying on context to make my point.

 

[Tdol]

I didn't expect you to be so callously impertinent, Rover. It was rather gratuitous and uncharitable!

It may have been an infelicitous turn of phrase, but it is hard to see the ambiguity. Please don't take it amiss- people often reply quickly, and sometimes things could be better phrased or better typed. However, if we do not respond quickly, people also complain. I post things late at night, then wonder the next morning if I could have phrased things better.