to fit

[navi]

Are these sentences correct:

1) I bought a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
(Meaning: I bought a small phone that fits in my shirt pocket.)

2) They designed a small phone to fit in a shirt pocket.

3) I want a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
(Meaning: I want a small phone which would fit in my shirt pocket.)

I want to know if one could postmodify a nouns with an infinitive for
that meaning. I am not sure that '1' and '3' work. '2' looks better to
me, but I am not sure that one is correct either.

--
Gratefully,
Navi


Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Obsessed with ambiguity
Interested in strange structures

[LionelEdwards]

Post by navi
1) I bought a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
(Meaning: I bought a small phone that fits in my shirt pocket.)
2) They designed a small phone to fit in a shirt pocket.
3) I want a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
(Meaning: I want a small phone which would fit in my shirt pocket.)
I want to know if one could postmodify a nouns with an infinitive for
that meaning. I am not sure that '1' and '3' work. '2' looks better to
me, but I am not sure that one is correct either.

They all look fine to me.

The meaning of (1) is: I bought a small phone BECAUSE I
WANTED ONE THAT WILL FIT in my shirt pocket.

[navi]

Thank you very much, Lionel,

This was really helpful. '1' was confusing for me.

1) I bought a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.

I am assuming that the phone is the 'agent' of to fit in '1'. Am I
correct?

2) I bought a phone to fit in my shirt pocket.

How would you interpret '2'?

Isn't the agent of 'to fit' the pronoun 'I'? I bought it so that I would
fit it in my shirt pocket.


--
Gratefully,
Navi


Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Obsessed with ambiguity
Interested in strange structures

[LionelEdwards]

Post by navi
Thank you very much, Lionel,
This was really helpful. '1' was confusing for me.
1) I bought a small phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
I am assuming that the phone is the 'agent' of to fit in '1'. Am I
correct?
2) I bought a phone to fit in my shirt pocket.
How would you interpret '2'?
Isn't the agent of 'to fit' the pronoun 'I'? I bought it so that I would
fit it in my shirt pocket.

You are overthinking short sentences that can have
only one possible outcome. Does it make any
difference whether the phone fits or T fit it?

If you want to overcomplicate things properly, you
could shout at it "Why then Ile fit you", and quote
a 1592 play by Thomas Kyd as well as the best known
poem of the 20th century.

(Run your cursor over the highlights in this link):

<https://wasteland.windingway.org/poem#431>

<QUOTE>
Early in Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy,
Hieronymo's son Horatio is murdered by a rival.
The murder unhinges Hieronymo, driving him mad even
as he plots revenge against his son's killers.

The line “Ile fit you“ (“I'll oblige you”) is from
Act 4, Scene 2, where Hieronymo convinces the
murderers to take part in a play to be performed
for the king.
</QUOTE>

[navi]

Thank you very much, Lionel.

I really appreciate this.

That play is like Hamlet. I had heard of it and knew it was a revenge
tragedy, but didn't know it had a play within a play. I have to read it.

Thanks again.

[navi]

PS.

I like Hamlet. I think I am a bit like him. He used to overthink things
too. Look where that got him! But he couldn't help it, could he?

But I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.