Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used as a secret language to communicate with other members of the herd.
(A) Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used
(B) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds that are believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, and they may use this
(C) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use
(D) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads; elephants emit low-frequency sounds they may use
(E) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads, low-frequency sounds are emitted by elephants that may be used
Can you please explain why C is correct? Doesn't 'that' modify 'foreheads' in C making it sounds like the foreheads are used by the elephants to communicate instead of the sound emitted by the foreheads? Thanks.
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- StaceyKoprince
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Technically, you are allowed to have a modifier between the noun and the word "that" if the intervening modifier is necessary to understanding that noun. (That's the only way to have intervening words between "noun that" when "that" is being used as a noun modifier.)
As dingo001 pointed out, the other four choices all have definite errors. C does fall into the category in which I can put the "believed..." modifier in there b/c that info is part of the definition of the particular "sounds" the sentence is discussing. Which sounds? The ones believed to originate...
I just want to add to dingo001's list: the explanations for A, B, and D are solid - but E can use some more. The "their" in the opening modifier of E appears to refer to the sounds - saying that the sounds originate from the sounds' foreheads, which of course doesn't make sense.
As dingo001 pointed out, the other four choices all have definite errors. C does fall into the category in which I can put the "believed..." modifier in there b/c that info is part of the definition of the particular "sounds" the sentence is discussing. Which sounds? The ones believed to originate...
I just want to add to dingo001's list: the explanations for A, B, and D are solid - but E can use some more. The "their" in the opening modifier of E appears to refer to the sounds - saying that the sounds originate from the sounds' foreheads, which of course doesn't make sense.
Stacey Koprince
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skoprince Wrote:Technically, you are allowed to have a modifier between the noun and the word "that" if the intervening modifier is necessary to understanding that noun. (That's the only way to have intervening words between "noun that" when "that" is being used as a noun modifier.)
As dingo001 pointed out, the other four choices all have definite errors. C does fall into the category in which I can put the "believed..." modifier in there b/c that info is part of the definition of the particular "sounds" the sentence is discussing. Which sounds? The ones believed to originate...
I just want to add to dingo001's list: the explanations for A, B, and D are solid - but E can use some more. The "their" in the opening modifier of E appears to refer to the sounds - saying that the sounds originate from the sounds' foreheads, which of course doesn't make sense.
Thanks for the explanation Stacey. However, isn't the intervening modifier 'believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads' not really necessary to understanding 'sounds'?
Can you please provide a few examples when such use is ok? Thanks.
- RonPurewal
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stacey made some valid points, but she forgot to point out the most important lack of understanding evinced in the first post. namely, the word 'that' cannot, repeat cannot, be used to introduce nonessential clauses set off by commas. to do that, you need proper relative pronouns, like 'which', 'who', and the like.
examples:
i went to the table and picked up the book, which was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- correct, assuming either that there is one book on the table or that the reader/listener knows which book is being referred to
i went to the table and picked up the book that was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- correct, assuming that there is more than one book on the table and clarification is thus necessary
i went to the table and picked up the book, that was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- incorrect.
that can't modify foreheads in choice c for the same reason that the third sentence above doesn't work. if you didn't know that this construction is considered ungrammatical, you have been warned: it is never correct.
on the other hand, choice c is correctly interpreted by throwing out the entire nonessential modifier, reading it as '...low-frequency sounds that they may use...', which conveys the intended meaning perfectly.
examples:
i went to the table and picked up the book, which was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- correct, assuming either that there is one book on the table or that the reader/listener knows which book is being referred to
i went to the table and picked up the book that was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- correct, assuming that there is more than one book on the table and clarification is thus necessary
i went to the table and picked up the book, that was dog-eared and covered in handwritten notes. -- incorrect.
that can't modify foreheads in choice c for the same reason that the third sentence above doesn't work. if you didn't know that this construction is considered ungrammatical, you have been warned: it is never correct.
on the other hand, choice c is correctly interpreted by throwing out the entire nonessential modifier, reading it as '...low-frequency sounds that they may use...', which conveys the intended meaning perfectly.
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