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Consider this passage from Smiley’s People (John Le Carré, 1990):

On top of the food-store lay a parcel of Gauloises Caporal cigarettes, Vladimir’s favourites when he couldn’t get his Russians. Tipped, he noticed, reading the different legends.

What’s the subject of this “tipped”? Is it “he”? So it can also be put as “he tipped, he noticed”?

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    Isn't a filter cigarette a tipped one? The Gouloises were tipped, he noticed as he was reading wording on the parcel.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented May 13 at 3:04
  • It might have said filtre. Maybe the author is making it up.
    – Xanne
    Commented May 13 at 3:08
  • The subject is the cigarettes, through simple pragmatics. The only preceding noun that can be described as "tipped" is the cigarettes.
    – Roaring Fish
    Commented May 13 at 3:47
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    You need to attribute your quote: John le Carré; Smiley's People.
    – DjinTonic
    Commented May 13 at 6:33
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    @Xanne It does. The passage continues: "Duty Free." Filtre." Marked "Exportation" and "Made in France."
    – DjinTonic
    Commented May 13 at 6:38

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There lay a parcel of Gauloises Caporal cigarettes. [The cigarettes were] tipped, he noticed . . .

tipped adj1
4. = filter-tipped adj. Also absol., filter-tipped cigarettes. 1964–
Source: Oxford English Dictionary (login required)

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  • What is being noticed here? I don't see how the phrase he noticed stands in relation to the rest of the sentence.
    – user405662
    Commented May 13 at 5:24
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    What is being noticed? The fact that the cigarettes were tipped.
    – Peter
    Commented May 13 at 7:25
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    @user405662 The two sentences should be read in context
    – DjinTonic
    Commented May 13 at 11:36
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    @user405662 Tinfoil Hat has done that in his answer: [The cigarettes were] tipped, he [Smiley] noticed.
    – DjinTonic
    Commented May 13 at 11:44
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    @user405662 The context leading up to this is needed to know who is doing the noticing. Maybe Smiley is noticing something about Vladimir's possessions.
    – Barmar
    Commented May 13 at 19:16

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