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In the sentence

  • The partner of an old woman who is residing in the USA will help us

it is clear that the person who will help us is the partner. But, I'm not clear whether the person who is residing in the USA is the partner or the old woman? If I want to convey that it is the woman who is residing in the USA, how do I express this?

On the other hand, if I want to convey it is the partner who is residing in the USA, how do I express this?

Is there any difference between the following?

  • (a) The partner of an old woman who is resident in the USA will help us and

  • (b) The partner of an old woman, who is resident in the USA will help us.

Note in the added comma in (b).

Edwin Ashworth
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Sridharan Rajannan
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  • In what language can we modify woman and say it describes partner? The comma version needs a paired comma after USA. In that case, it says the woman happens to live there, rather than a key identifier of a certain woman living there. Still, we have no information about where the partner lives. – Yosef Baskin Jan 23 '22 at 15:42
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    It doesn't make any difference whether you enclose the relative clause *who is residing in the USA* within delineating commas or not (but if you do, you must include *both* commas). Including the commas forces a "non-restrictive relative clause" interpretation (the "restrictive" version would imply there are multiple partners of old women who might be contextually relevant, but we're specifically identifying the one in particular who's "residing in the USA"). But the text is inherently ambiguous as to whether it refers to the woman or her partner (or both) who reside in the USA. – FumbleFingers Jan 23 '22 at 16:01
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    ...on that earlier question, Prof John Lawler says it's a classic attachment ambiguity;* very common in writing, but mostly absent in speech, because the intonation disambiguates. That's to say, in the specific context here, an actual speaker* would place more stress on either *partner* or *woman, depending on which one he meant was going to help. This is the downside of studying real* language (inherently *spoken) through an imperfect written* representation. – FumbleFingers Jan 23 '22 at 16:08
  • @FumbleFingers Good point. – Yosef Baskin Jan 23 '22 at 16:11

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