# Grammar Question: Name of This Error? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368 "2017-01-05T04:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/21 "2017-01-05T21:58:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Except, as noted by the OP, they are not, or at least they are not intended to be, given the OP intended the adjectival and not verbal reading of “nestled.” That said, I guess the ambiguity can lead one to read it as a comma splice. From my reading of the sentence as intended by the OP (which is the way I originally read it, too), it’s a textbook nominative absolute. I agree, though it wouldn’t normally have occurred to me to interpret it that way, and I had missed the discussion about the adjectival intent. The word “nestle” is conventionally regarded as only a verb in both US and UK usage, either transitive or intransitive, as one can see [here](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nestle) and [here](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/nestle). The meaning might have been clearer if the word had been omitted altogether or replaced by its present participle or an appropriate synonym. I have no problem with such usage; the problem is the lack of clarity. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/22 "2017-01-05T22:09:56Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Oh, good lord. :smack::smack::smack::smack: That is almost Guadere’s Law, right? > > I teach a lot of _developing writers_ (i. e., those who are new to scientific writing). > > Oy. Actually, the idea of teachers seeing a lot of “developing wrongs” in their classrooms might be considered a rather expressive turn of phrase! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/23 "2017-01-05T23:18:24Z")
Time I went and nestled next to her in our warm, comfortable bed. I would say to any developing writer that the important thing is clarity. There is a reason why legal documents don’t have commas. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/24 "2017-01-05T23:47:48Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > There is a reason why legal documents don’t have commas. Wait. What? Plenty of commas in my house papers, and I worked for a couple of years for some lawyers, and plenty of commas in their court documents. Is this a UK thing? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/25 "2017-01-06T00:11:42Z")
_Nestled_ when used adjectivally is the past participle of _nestle._ \*Shining \* is the present participle of \*shine.\*They are both dangling participials. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/26 "2017-01-06T00:15:36Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > . . . I would say to any developing writer that the important thing is clarity. Agreed! (I choked!) Isaac Asimov, in his fiction, has just about the greatest pure clarity of any writer I know of. His prose is very plain, but, gollamighty, it is clear! > [@](#): > > There is a reason why legal documents don’t have commas. When I was younger, I thought legal contracts had to be all in one sentence. You can imagine what kind of results I created. (I also included the immortal phrase, “…and if the recipient is not satisfied, I will give him back his fucking money…”) It was an abomination, but at least the legal intent was clear! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/27 "2017-01-06T03:02:11Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > _Nestled_ when used adjectivally is the past participle of _nestle._ \*Shining \* is the present participle of \*shine.\*They are both dangling participials. No, they’re not. The second one is, but the first one is an example of a nominative absolute. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/28 "2017-01-06T06:45:11Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > No, they’re not. The second one is, but the first one is an example of a nominative absolute. Ok, I guess I see the difference. _Her warm body_ makes it a noun phrase, which is different from a true participial phrase. It’s a dangling nominative absolute. You can see why they just started calling them all dangling modifiers, can’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/29 "2017-01-06T12:43:06Z")
[Anacoluthon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacoluthon) _An anacoluthon (/ænəkəˈluːθɒn/ AN-ə-kə-LOO-thon; from the Greek anakolouthon, from an-: “not” and ἀκόλουθος akólouthos: “following”) is an unexpected discontinuity in the expression of ideas within a sentence, leading to a form of words in which there is logical incoherence of thought. Anacolutha are often sentences interrupted midway, where there is a change in the syntactical structure of the sentence and of intended meaning following the interruption._ ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368/30 "2017-01-06T20:48:29Z")
I can’t tell if anacoluthon is exactly what I was looking for – it seems to be referring more to a non sequitur transition than a specific grammatical error – but it’s a pretty nifty word, so thank you for it! (Isn’t it something Captain Haddock once exclaimed?) (I just checked the Tintin wiki…and yes, he once did!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-name-of-this-error/776368.md?page=1)