10. English Grammar Lesson. Participial Phrases Set Off by Commas

Yossarian the Grammarian explains the importance of participial phrases set off from the main clause by a comma or commas. English grammar

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[moksshhh]

hi Yossarian

you said ... "when a participial phrase is separated from subject by comma, it modifies the subject."

isn't that true for all participial subjects, weather it is separated by comma or not?

[mrthoth]

@moksshhh I can't really answer because I don't know what you mean by "participial subject." Rephrase? Perhaps with an example of what you mean?

[moksshhh]

@mrthoth Sorry i mean "Participial Phrases" :p

[mrthoth]

@moksshhh A participial phrase separated by a comma from the main clause modifies the subject of the main clause. So in "People cast their ballots, believing in the justice of the cause," "believing in the justice of the cause" modifies "people" (the subject of the main clause). In "I put my faith in people believing in the justice of the cause," the participial phrase still modifies "people," but "people" is no longer a subject at all. (The subject of the clause is "I".) (Continued)

[mrthoth]

@moksshhh Now if the sentence were "I put my faith in people, believing in the justice of the cause," now "believing in the justice of the cause" modifies "I", the subject of the main clause. So the comma makes a difference.

[regan4000]

@mrthoth Could you answer this question please. I too am confused why the PP in "I put my faith in people, believing in the justice of the cause", doesn't modify the subject, which is "I" (me)....

[mrthoth]

@regan4000 In "I put my faith in people, believing in the justice of the cause," the present participle "believing" DOES modify "I", the subject.

[wanmus]

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[mazzimi]

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[timothypjohnson]

Here we see a lecturer commit a common grammatical fallacy!

"Hoping for rain" in the exercise is a PARTICIPIAL CLAUSE (not phrase). More precisely, it is an adverbial participial clause giving us the reason for (or manner of) the action in the main clause.

This is easily demonstrated by turning the clause thus, "Because they hoped for rain..." or "While they hoped for rain..." - both unmistakable adverbial clauses.

[mrthoth]

@TMSxHITMAN In "The Germans danced in a ring," "the Germans" is the subject and "danced" is a verb. No verb is ever part of a participial phrase, although participles can be verbs. In "I had danced with him before," "danced" is a participle, but it is not part of a participial phrase. (In that sentence, "danced with him before" is not a phrase at all, of any kind.) In "The Germans danced in a ring," "danced" is the past tense, not the past participle.

[TMSxHITMAN]

i though danced would be a participle phrase to in your first sentence?