Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:45:00 EDT
Consider This Sentence
The following sentence occurs in an article on CBC News on Apple News. “A 1941 portrait of British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill by famed Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, which was reported stolen from the lobby of Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in August 2022, has been located in Italy, sources tell CBC news.”
A little long.
The appositive clause is actually a restrictive clause. The first two commas should be removed and the phrase introduced with that instead of which, but that would make the sentence even less lucid than it is.
My rewrite: “A stolen photograph of British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill has been found in Italy. Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh took the famous ‘Roaring Lion’ portrait in 1941. The print of the image, signed by the photographer, was stolen from the public area of Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in 2022.”
We can’t avoid the passive voice here.