# sculptor of the Statue of Liberty \[ English help \] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094 "2010-06-30T18:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![themajestic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@themajestic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themajestic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/1 "2010-06-30T18:02:47Z")
Please look at this text … _ **According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty,modeled the face of the statue after that of his mother and the body after that of his wife.** _ I don’t like the above because of the red marker. …is not after that = expired ? I’d love this way … \*\*\*According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue like his mother and the body like his wife * * * Do you see any wrong here ? ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/2 "2010-06-30T18:13:00Z")
The original sentence is correct. The idiom “after that” does not mean “expired”. It is common to refer to something as “being patterned after” something. In this case, the face of the Statue of Liberty is patterned after his mother’s face, and the body is patterned after his wife’s body. I am glad he did it that way, because patterning the statue’s body after his mother’s body would have just been creepy! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/3 "2010-06-30T18:13:21Z")
> [@themajestic](#): > > Please look at this text … > _ **According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty,modeled the face of the statue after that of his mother and the body after that of his wife.** _ > I don’t like the above because of the red marker. …is not after that = expired ? > > I’d love this way .. > > \*\*\*According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue like his mother and the body like his wife > > * * * > > Do you see any wrong here ? If you write it the way you want, then the sentence implies that he would have modeled the face of the statue the way his mother would have modeled it, if she was the sculptor. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/4 "2010-06-30T18:20:47Z")
> [@themajestic](#): > > I don’t like the above because of the red marker. …is not after that = expired? “After that” does not mean “expired”. The sentence is saying: “Bartholdi modeled the face of the statue after the face of his mother and the body of the statue after the body of his wife.” “Modeled after” is a common verb/preposition pairing. “That” is a pronoun that’s used so the author doesn’t have to awkwardly repeat “face” and “body”. > [@](#): > > I’d love this way .. > > \*\*\*According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue like his mother and the body like his wife > > * * * It’s comprehensible, but not strictly correct. It sounds like you’re referring to “a statue like his mother”, which isn’t what the sentence is trying to say. You could say “Bartholdi modeled the face of the statue _to be like_ the face of his mother and the body of the statue _to be like_ the body of his wife.” But that’s more wordy than the original. If you’re not a native English speaker, you probably shouldn’t be trying to improve on something written by a native speaker unless you’ve spent years learning all the little quirks of the language. Chances are your logical assessment of what’s right and what’s wrong will go astray because you’re unfamiliar with some minor detail of usage. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/5 "2010-06-30T18:22:29Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > … if she was the sculptor. I think you mean _“… if she were the sculptor.”_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/6 "2010-06-30T18:37:16Z")
Good explanation, **The Hamster King**. I suspect the OP’s trouble lay in not recognizing the phrase (idiom?) “modeled after.” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/7 "2010-06-30T18:37:23Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I think you mean _“… if she were the sculptor.”_ 😉 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/8 "2010-06-30T18:58:34Z")
I know this is GQ but I would like to share this MPSIMS tidbit. In my shop I have a few of the tools used by Kenneth Lynch in the 20’s to restore the Statue of Liberty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/9 "2010-06-30T19:02:48Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > The original sentence is correct. The idiom “after that” does not mean “expired”. I don’t think he’s saying it means expired. I think he’s saying it _is_ expired, as in archaic. That’s not true either, of course, though it’s more common in British English. ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/10 "2010-06-30T19:41:33Z")
I think what most people are trying to say is that we would say: **According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue after his mother and the body after his wife.** ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/11 "2010-06-30T19:51:38Z")
> [@TerpBE](#): > > I think what most people are trying to say is that we would say: > > **According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue after his mother and the body after his wife.** Except that it’s a little clearer, though probably not necessary, to say he modeled the face of the statue after his mother\*\*'s face\*\* (not just after his mother, in general)—which is what “modeled the face of the statue after that [i.e. the face] of his mother” means. ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/12 "2010-06-30T19:55:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Except that it’s a little clearer, though probably not necessary, to say he modeled the face of the statue after his mother\*\*'s face\*\* (not just after his mother, in general)—which is what “modeled the face of the statue after that [i.e. the face] of his mother” means. or just: According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, modeled the face of the statue after his mother’s, and the body after his wife’s. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/13 "2010-06-30T20:01:08Z")
He modeled he face of the statue after his mother’s statue? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/14 "2010-06-30T20:02:41Z")
Or you could used “based”. _According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, based the face of the statue on his mother and based the statue’s body on that of his wife._ Or ‘inspired by’: _According to Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, the statue’s face was inspired by that of his mother and the body by that of his wife._ (The torch came from his brother Jean Michel “Bunny” Bartholdi, the well known Parisian flamer.) ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sculptor-of-the-statue-of-liberty-english-help/545094/15 "2010-07-01T01:01:10Z")
Or, the writer could have said “The sculptor himself said he used his wife as the model for the body of the statue, but chose his mother as the model for the face.” Tris.