Modifier

[thapliyalabhi]

Back with another doubt.

An incorrect sentence has been given as "Upon setting foot in the Gothic cathedral, the spectacularly stained glass windows amazed the camera wielding tourists."

Explanation given is-Upon is a preposition. The phrase upon setting foot in the Gothic cathedral contains the gerund setting. Who or what set foot in the cathedral? Logically, it must be the tourists, not the windows. However, the noun windows is the subject of the sentence, and so windows seems to be the subject of setting.

So, the correct sentence becomes-
Upon entering the Gothic cathedral, the camera-wielding tourists were amazed by the spectacular stained-glass windows.

But, I didn't understand the explanation clearly. So, thought this also can be the correct version-Upon setting foot in the Gothic cathedral, camera-wielding tourists were amazed by the spectacular stained-glass windows.

Please tell whether my version of correct sentence is right or wrong. Also, kindly help me in understanding the given explanation.

[RonPurewal]

hi --
this post does not follow the forum rules.
in particular, please provide a citation of the original source.
we need this, to make sure that (a) the problem is not from one of our banned sources and (b) we aren't violating any copyrights.

also, please clarify exactly what you're asking. ("entering" and "setting foot in" are essentially identical, so i can't really tell what you are asking about.)

thanks.

[thapliyalabhi]

hi --
this post does not follow the forum rules.
in particular, please provide a citation of the original source.
we need this, to make sure that (a) the problem is not from one of our banned sources and (b) we aren't violating any copyrights.

also, please clarify exactly what you're asking. ("entering" and "setting foot in" are essentially identical, so i can't really tell what you are asking about.)

thanks.

Hi Ron.

This is a problem from Manhattan SC guide 4th edition, Chapter 6 Q-1.
The below sentence contains one or more underlined modifiers. For each of these modifiers,
(1) identify the word or words, if any, that it modifies, and (2) indicate whether the modifier
is correct. If the modifier is incorrect, suggest a way to correct the error.

Upon setting foot in the Gothic cathedral, the spectacularly stained-glass windows
amazed the camera-wielding tourists.

The explanation given is:-
Upon setting foot in the Gothic cathedral· INCORRECT. Upon is a preposition. The phrase upon setting foot
in the Gothic cathedral contains the gerund setting. Who or what set foot in the cathedral? Logically,
it must be the tourists, not the windows. However, the noun windows is the subject of the sentence,
and so windows seems to be the subject of setting.
spectacularly: INCORRECT. An adverb. such as spectacularly can modify many parts of speech, but not a
noun. The phrase spectacularly stained-glass windows seems to imply that the windows were spectacularly
stained-that is, spectacularly seems to modify stained. However, stained-glass is a material. The
author intended to say that either the stained glass itself or the windows were spectacular. The adverb
should be replaced with the adjective spectacular.
camera-wielding: CORRECT. This participle modifies tourists.

In the above given explanation, I did not understand why "upon setting foot in the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as wrong and "upon entering the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as right.

Please explain.

[RonPurewal]

In the above given explanation, I did not understand why "upon setting foot in the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as wrong and "upon entering the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as right.

Please explain.

the point is not "setting foot in" vs. "entering"; that distinction is immaterial. (those are the same, except in that "entering" can be used to describe the entry of non-human, non-animal things like the wind, while "setting foot in" cannot.)

the point is that the following subject is now tourists, as it should be, rather than windows (which, while grammatically ok, is nonsense).

here are simpler examples:

Coming home from school, the wind blew me off my bike.
--> nonsense. (unless you are dealing with some desert myth in which the wind went to school with the clouds and the rain.)

Coming home from school, I was blown off my bike by the wind.
--> makes sense.

[thapliyalabhi]

In the above given explanation, I did not understand why "upon setting foot in the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as wrong and "upon entering the gothic cathedral" has been mentioned as right.

Please explain.

the point is not "setting foot in" vs. "entering"; that distinction is immaterial. (those are the same, except in that "entering" can be used to describe the entry of non-human, non-animal things like the wind, while "setting foot in" cannot.)

the point is that the following subject is now tourists, as it should be, rather than windows (which, while grammatically ok, is nonsense).

here are simpler examples:

Coming home from school, the wind blew me off my bike.
--> nonsense. (unless you are dealing with some desert myth in which the wind went to school with the clouds and the rain.)

Coming home from school, I was blown off my bike by the wind.
--> makes sense.

Got it this time. Thanks Ron.

[jlucero]

Glad you got it.

[himanshu_chauhan]

If i write:

Upon setting foot in the Gothic Cathedral, the camera-wielding tourists were amazed by the spectacular stained-glass window.

will this be correct??
Gerund is modifying tourist now rather than windows

[RonPurewal]

If i write:

Upon setting foot in the Gothic Cathedral, the camera-wielding tourists were amazed by the spectacular stained-glass window.

This would be ok.