Also called "transferred epithet" – an adjective gets stuck to another word in the sentence than the one it should be modifying.
clutching at wild straws The writer meant "wildly
clutching at straws".
a tepid menu of ideas New York Times January 24, 2007 Perhaps they meant "a menu of tepid
ideas".
another piece of that crucial
jigsaw – Simon Thurley on a Timewatch programme about Stonehenge BBC4 June 19 2010. He means “another crucial piece of the jigsaw”.
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way.
(Thomas Gray)
Tell me the honest truth. Be
honest and tell me the truth.
A happy
coincidence opened much wider doors. My Three
Fathers by William S. Patten It opened doors to a wider society. He passed a restless night. (He was restless, not the night.)
Oh happy day!
It was a nervous situation, an anxious time.
The only thing that has dated is the “wincing portrayals of slaves” (in Gone with the Wind) Guardian on romantic movies. We, not the portrayals, wince.
Rupert Everett is taking a break from the silver screen to play the unlikely lead in Shaw's Pygmalion. (He’s unlikely casting.)
He narrowly survived an accident – he had a narrow escape and survived an accident.
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