“Comb your hair!” he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper
and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more
haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together,
but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over
the place.
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
- Is there ‘have had haircuts’ omitted between boys and in his class?
- Is ‘put together’ a participial phrase modifying boys?
Answer
Regarding 1) No, the sentence is fine as is. Regarding 2) I am not sure, but I think not; what is meant here is putting together all the haircuts not all the boys. That is, if you counted all the haircuts of all the other boys and compared that to Harry’s haircuts, the latter would be higher.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Listenever , Answer Author : Peter Flom
