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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Adverbial past participial clauses

Hi there, 

I was just wondering whether adverbial past participial clauses always have the adverbial in the beginning of the sentence. The grammar books also always give examples with sentence-initial adverbial, so I would like to know what the clause is called when it is not in initial position.

Does it make any difference (semantically or syntactically) if the clauses are reversed? To give you a better idea of what I mean: 

"Stuck in the traffic jam, the man got angry." (adverbial pp clause)

Now, in reverse order, the sentence would be:

"The man got angry, stuck in the traffic jam."
Is this still an adverbial pp clause? 

Thank a lot, 
sophie
  

Top answer

Sopie: The past participle is an adjective. It can be the head of an adjective phrase. The adjective phrase can be transformed into a relative clause, referring to the object being modified.

  • Sopie: The past participle is an adjective.
  • It can be the head of an adjective phrase.
  • The adjective phrase can be transformed into a relative clause, referring to the object being modified.
  • " Here is the relative clause: The man who was stuck in the traffic jam got angry.
  • " The man who was unexpectedly stuck in the traffic jam got angry.
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2 Answers
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Sopie:

The past participle is an adjective. It can be the head of an adjective phrase. The adjective phrase can be transformed into a relative clause, referring to the object being modified. Here is your sentence:

"Stuck in the traffic jam, the man got angry."

Here is the relative clause:

The man who was stuck in the traffic jam got angry.

The adjec
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<<Does it make any difference (semantically or syntactically) if the clauses are reversed? >>

"Stuck in the traffic jam, the man got angry." (adverbial pp clause) Yes, You may reverse the participle clause but to make it semantically correct, “being” needs to be added to the sentence.

"Being stuck in the traffic jam ,the man got angry."

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