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Tough confused pronoun and modifier

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Tough confused pronoun and modifier

by tuanquang269 » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:37 am
This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.
A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

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by user123321 » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:41 am
tuanquang269 wrote:This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.
A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

I found this question is very nice one. So, I want to bring it to this forum to discuss more. Enjoy it.
[spoiler]is it E?[/spoiler]

in other options "his" may refer to friend of Beethoven or Beethoven.
C seems awkward.

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by chieftang » Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:52 pm
tuanquang269 wrote:This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.
A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

I found this question is very nice one. So, I want to bring it to this forum to discuss more. Enjoy it.
I would choose E. But I don't think this is a good question/answer set. All the answers have problems.

I would consider B also, except that technically the final "his" refers to the friend. And we know a friend can't sketch something two weeks after dying. :-)

E doesn't have the pronoun reference problem, however it does have another problem: It implies that the close friend killed Beethoven!

So, no good answers, but I'd have chosen E.

But here's how I'd write this sentence:

A couple weeks after his death, this picture of Beethoven was sketched from memory by a close friend.
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