a sentence structure?

Question

I never heard from him again. Now Scotland Yard - and, I suspect, other agencies - is trying to find the manuscript he said was writing at the time of his death.

- Who Killed Ashraf Marwan? from today's NYT


I'd like to know how the part can be analysed : the manuscript he said was writing at the time of his death.

I think I can rewrite this : the manuscript which 'he said' he was writing at the time of his death. So the menaing is clear to me.
But it is my question that how the sentence can be changed to the one the writer expressed.

I'd like to have some answers which are explained grammatically.

Looking forward to your answers.

Answer 1

Pretty clearly, "he" was accidentally omitted between "said" and "was". But that fact being granted, there is still an ambiguous prepositional phrase attachment.

"at the time of his death" is a prepositional phrase (with a smaller PP nested inside it). It functions as an adverb, modifying a previous verb. The question is, does it modify "said" or "writing"? Did he say something at the time of his death, or was he writing the manuscript at the time of his death?

Either possibility presents a problem. If he was writing at the time of his death, when did he say that he was writing at the time of his death? The past progressive tense "was writing" implies that he said it after he wrote it; but after he wrote it, he was dead, so he couldn't say anything.

The other possibility is that he said it at the time of his death, having written it earlier. If we take it literally, his dying words must have been "I was writing a manuscript," or something of that nature. If that's true, it makes the story more piquant, and it's odd that the reporter didn't emphasize it more.

The actual situation is probably that he said, not long (days? weeks?) before his death, that he was writing a manuscript. The reporter, or Scotland Yard, presumes that he was still writing it up until the day he died. That's not exactly what the sentence says, though.

Answer 2

i'm unsure that is in suited variety at in touch with the subject count of a examine paper as a results of fact it announces a end. In my suggestions, a topic count for a paper shouldn't state the tip yet particularly pose an unknown to be explored interior the examine. My restatement would pass like this: "The present day or the classic coaching technique - An examination of the extra constructive impact on formative years progression."

Answer 3

Sparki is quite right. It is a simple omission. Add a "he" to make: "... the manuscript he said he was writing ..." The text is otherwise carefully written - note the use of the singular "is", for example - suggesting this is a proofing error and nothing more.

Answer 4

I agree that a second "he" was accidentally dropped or something. There needs to be a subject between "said" and "was writing" the way the sentence is constructed.