Sign up ×  Recently as some of us were getting ready to take a
walk through the snow, somebody said to me "you're wearing
sensible shoes". Now my shoes haven't developed cognitive
abilities so far as I know (and I spend enough time with them
that I think I would notice), but everyone there knew what this
means. It's a common phrase in my experience, but it got me
wondering. The adjective sensible here, while syntactically
bound to the noun shoes, really applies to another noun in the
sentence instead. Is there a term for this sort of modifier
migration, or is this sentence technically ungrammatical?  I
checked for alternate or obscure meanings of sensible but found
none, and a Google search on the phrase turned up uses but no
explanations. I also don't think this construct is limited to
this particular phrase, but I don't have any more clever ideas.
share|improve this question What do you mean when you say "The
adjective sensible here, while syntactically bound to the noun
shoes, really applies to another no