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Which sentence has the better grammar?

English Language & Usage Asked by That Duck God on August 14, 2020

I am kind of stuck between these two questions. Can you help me determine which is the right choice? I answered b and a respectively, however, I don’t feel confident on my answers.

1.
a. I hurriedly placed the books, which I had brought back from the library, on the bedside table.

b. Hurriedly, I placed the books on the bedside table which I had brought home from the library.

c. I brought back from the library books I hurriedly placed on the bedside table.

d. I hurriedly placed the books on the bedside table which I had brought home from the library.

2.
a. Nurses do a necessary job: doing what the doctors tell them to cure the patients and making them feel better.

b. Nurses do a necessary job, and doing what the doctor tell them to cure the patients and making them feel better is their business.

c. Nurses do a necessary job. They do what the doctors tell them, to cure the patients and to make them feel better.

d.It is the nurses’ job to do what the doctor tells them to cure the patients and make them feel better, and their job is necessary.

One Answer

This question is not specific and may attract adverse comment from some reviewers. I answer on the assumption that you brought books from the library rather than bringing a table.

1b and 1d are therefore wrong because they refer to a table that you brought from the library.

1c is faulty. It should read “I brought back from the library books that I hurriedly placed on the bedside table. “ It is also awkward because it needs punctuation but it is not easy to place the desirable comma or commas.

1a is correct and unambiguous. You placed books on the table. Which books you refer to is made clear by having the clause describing them “... which I had brought back from the library”

2a is ambiguous. Who is made to feel better? Patients or doctors?

2b is ambiguous. “… their business” might refer to nurse, doctors or patients.

2c is the best. There is no ambiguity.

2d is cumbersome, repeating “job” unnecessarily.

Correct answer by Anton on August 14, 2020

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