XPost: sci.lang, alt.usage.english

On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 15:14:03 +0000, Tony Cooper wrote:

On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 10:40:53 +0000, [email protected] (navi) wrote:

1) The last time I saw Tom, he was talking to Henry Jones, killed in a
car accident.
2) The last time I saw Tom, he was talking to Henry Jones, who was
killed in a car accident.

Do these make sense?

No. It has Tom talking to a dead man.

1 and 2 are both bad.

some might say and write 2 --- esp. if Tom is a psychic or a
Medium.

Obviously Henry Jones was killed in a car accident after Tom talked to
him.

If written like this:

The last time I saw Tom he was talking to Henry Jones, who was
later
killed in a car accident.

it would establish that Henry died after the conversation. Your
version's first comma is not needed.

___________________________________________

The last time I saw Tom he was talking to Henry Jones, who was
later
killed in a car accident.

for me, the following version is much better.

The last time I saw Tom, he was talking to Henry Jones who was
later
killed in a car accident.

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