Having written for 10 hours, my hands...
I am going to make up a sentence below.
(1) Having written for ten continuous hours, my right hand was tired.
Most of my non-native English speaking friends think it's wrong to use "my hand". They say that the participial phrase in the sentence needs to refer to a pronoun, a proper noun, or a common noun. They have two similar examples for me to support their reason.
(2a) Walking down the stairs quickly, the man almost fell.
(2b) Walking down the stairs quickly, the man's legs almost made him fall.
They think (2a) is correct because it's the man who made his legs walk as in (2a). So, (2b) is wrong.
Using this logic, do you think my sentence (1) is wrong? Thanks for your help.
Top answer
ansonguy Using this logic, do you think my sentence (1) is wrong? Yes. It's a mismatched modifier (dangling participle).
- ansonguy Using this logic, do you think my sentence (1) is wrong?
- Yes.
- It's a mismatched modifier (dangling participle).
- Actually, it's a borderline case because even though you are writing, your hand is writing too.
- CJ
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ansonguyUsing this logic, do you think my sentence (1) is wrong?
Yes. It's a mismatched modifier (dangling participle).
Actually, it's a borderline case because even though you are writing, your hand is writing too.
CJ
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