took John to the hospital

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artart
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Joined:2018-03-25, 6:06
took John to the hospital

Postby artart » 2022-09-26, 12:30

a. I took John to the hospital unconscious.

b. I took John unconscious to the hospital.

c. I took John, unconscious, to the hospital.


Which of the above are grammatical and meaningful?

Obviously I couldn't have been unconscious when I took John to the hospital, so John has to be the one who is unconscious.

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linguoboy
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Re: took John to the hospital

Postby linguoboy » 2022-09-27, 22:02

artart wrote:a. I took John to the hospital unconscious.

b. I took John unconscious to the hospital.

c. I took John, unconscious, to the hospital.


Which of the above are grammatical and meaningful?

Obviously I couldn't have been unconscious when I took John to the hospital, so John has to be the one who is unconscious.

Something can be "obvious" after a moment's reflection and still be confusing in the moment. I would reject (a.) for that reason. (b.) and (c.) are grammatically equivalent (since punctuation is not strictly speaking a matter of grammar) and better stylistically than (a.) since they lack the grammatical ambiguity (for me at least).
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons


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