khitindra wrote:
Question: At the turn of the twenties century, forest covering as much as 90 percent of Thailand and accomodating as many as 300,000 elephants, a third of them domesticated and performing various essential tasks
In the above sentence, "A third of them domesticated and performing various essential tasks" is written correctly? If yes please provide an explanation.
Thanks in advance!
Yes, such usage is correct. This kind of modifiers are called subgroup modifier. Following are some examples of usage of subgroup modifiers (examples from Manhattan SC guide):
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME OF WHICH WERE only recently discovered.
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME OF THEM only recently discovered.
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME only recently discovered.
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, OF WHICH SOME WERE only recently discovered.
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME OF THEM WHICH WERE only recently discovered.
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME OF WHICH only recently discovered.
Instead of "some", "a third" is used in the above example corresponding to the second right example above.