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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Can someone explain this sentence to me

"Like many young lawyers, he'd accepted a job at a large firm hoping to advance quickly and become a partner."

What does hoping modify?
  

Top answer

Anonymous What does hoping modify? Strictly speaking it doesn't modify anything. It provides a secondary predicate for the subject of the main clause ("he").

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous What does hoping modify?
  • Strictly speaking it doesn't modify anything.
  • It provides a secondary predicate for the subject of the main clause ("he").
  • ) He had accepted a job; he was hoping to advance quickly.
  • ) He'd accepted a job in the hope that he would advance quickly.
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11 Answers
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AnonymousWhat does hoping modify?
Strictly speaking it doesn't modify anything. It provides a secondary predicate for the subject of the main clause ("he").

(Very loosely speaking, however, it "modifies" the subject "he".)

He had accepted a job; he was hoping to advance quickly. (Two predicates for "he".)
He'd accepted a job in t
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Could you provide a few examples like that sentence?
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AnonymousCould you provide a few examples like that sentence?
That's an adverbial (i.e., predicative) active (i.e., present) participle clause in final position. Here are others of that type:

Moments later a bomb exploded, leaving three people dead and twelve others injured.
When I entered they all looked at me, making me feel uncomfortable.
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The last two sentences don't really sound right to my ear. I feel like they need to have prepositions to sound good.

"Laura cut her hair by holding the scissors in her right hand."
"Robert lost his wallet while walking through the mall."
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AnonymousThe last two sentences don't really sound right to my ear. I feel like they need to have prepositions to sound good."Laura cut her hair by holding the scissors in her right hand.""Robert lost his wallet while walking through the mall."
You can add the extra words if you wish. The resulting sentences are also correct.

'by' is not exactly what
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Is there a guide on this subject? I have not been able to come up with anything
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AnonymousIs there a guide on this subject? I have not been able to come up with anything
Do you have access to Google? Use that. Search for "participle clause". Meanwhile, here's a brief overview of the topic. It's a big topic with a lot of details, so don't try to learn everything at once.
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Participle Clauses
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I know about the ones that include a comma in a sentence. What confuses me is sentences without a comma.
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AnonymousI know about the ones that include a comma in a sentence. What confuses me is sentences without a comma.
You can just about forget about commas. That's a relatively trivial matter. Put a comma after an initial participle clause. Before a final participle clause the use of a comma is most often the choice of the writer. The shorter the clause, the
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Also in this sentence:

"he'd accepted a job at the large firm hoping to advance quickly and become a partner."

Does still make sense when used with a definite article?
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