[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
Learn English and meet people on the world’s largest EFL social network

We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!

Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com


Share this topic:
This question is Not Answered
Latest post Wed, Nov 4 2009 9:22 PM by Avangi. 1 replies.
Suggest an answer | | |
Anonymous  +  961762 Wed, 04 Nov 09 08:49 PM
I'm writing an essay and I'm not sure if this sounds right...help me?


"The son of itinerant actors, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Hopkins Poe, Edgar Allan Poe was abandoned in 1811, when he was just over a year old, after his father left the family and his mother died of tuberculosis. Having no other relations to care for him, Poe was taken into the family of John Allan, a wealthy merchant."


Thanks  

Avangi  +  961783 Wed, 04 Nov 09 09:22 PM
It is a bit curious, and hard to parse at first.

The single phrase, "The son of itinerant actors," gives rise to two separate appositives, one following the other.

The second appositive matches up with the first noun, "the son."  (The son, Edgar Allan Poe).

The first appositive matches up with the second noun, "actors."  (Actors, David & Elizabeth).


It would probably help to get rid of the first comma, at least making the first match clear.  But better yet, find another way to say it.


The rest of your excerpt is fine by me.


Edit.  Perhaps you could use a nested appositive, if I may coin a phrase.


Edgar Allan Poe, the son of itinerant actors David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Hopkins Poe, was abandoned etc.


Though still cumbersome because of the long names of the parents, I think it flows a little better than the first.  At least the appositives directly follow their antecedents.


(Well, it isn't really a nested appositive.) 

Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007
Veteran Member 8,207
". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier
© MediaCet Ltd. 2009, v5.0.3616.28671. All content posted by our users is a contribution to the public domain, this does not include imported usenet posts.*
For web related enquires please contact us on webmaster@mediacet.com, status updates are available at status.mediacet.com.
*Usenet post removal: Use 'X-No-Archive'. You may not have understood that your posts would end up in the public domain. Please send proof of the poster's email, we will remove immediately.