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Old 12-05-2011, 09:58 AM   #33
indahouweres

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
448
Senior Member
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Assalamualikum,



''The customer showed the fly to the waiter which he found in the glass of soup.''

The above given sentence ,in fact ,contains a blunder which is very clear to the people who know a basic rule of English language.

Let me explain: the customer found a fly in the soup and showed it to the waiter.This is what the writer wants to convey. But this not what he conveys.what the sentence means is not what the writer wants it should mean.
The sentence means that the customer found the waiter in the glass of soup:
....... the waiter which he found in the glass of soup soup

he should have written :

The customer showed the waityer the fly which he found in the glass of soup.

''.....the fly which he found in the glass of soup'' conveys the meaning which the writer intnded to convey but
could not.

Now the rule:
Always place the adjectival clause closest the the noun which it qualifies.

''.....Which he found in the soup '' is an adjectival clause.

If you place it close to the noun fly it will become:
''The fly which he found in the soup'' meaning that the fly was found in the soup.
It is possible to find a fly in a glass of soup.


If you place it close to the noun waiter it will become:
''The waiter which he found in the soup'' meaning that the waiter was found in the soup.
Just imagine what happens to the meaning.Only an idiot can say that a waiter was found in a glass of soup.

I am away from home and am not able to quote the blunder committed by Jenab Wahiduddin Khan. I informed them through an e-mail but they did not respond.I will cite the quote when I get back home-Inshallah.

Janab Masoodi Sahab,
This is exactly the type of activity I was wishing for. and please continue.
And yes I sort of suspected that this might be the mistake but one can be sure and assertive about these things only if it is sort of your way of life. This is what should happen, IA, as a result of this activity.

I shall, IA, begin a new thread for this and let us go there for serious matters and leave the present thread dedicated to humour.
Wassalam

PS: The new thread is here.
indahouweres is offline


 

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