Helping the needy all the time

Question

HiIs the red structure natural English? Could you please tell me the name of this kind of phrase?He was a very kind man helping the needy all the time. She was always with us giving the right advice.James was an extremely dedicated employee working late hours without so much as a murmur.He is very belligerent fighting his own shadow most of the time.Thanks,Tom

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Mr. TomIs the red structure natural English?

Technically, the red phrases are not structures (constituents of the sentences) at all. The first word of each belongs to the preceding structure, and the second word of each belongs to the following structure. I think most editors would ask for a comma to be placed between the two words in question.

The construction from the second red word to the end of each sentence is called a participle clause. In traditional grammar it's called a participle phrase, but the trend recently is to use the term 'participle clause'. Such clauses inherit their subject and tense from the subject and tense of the main clause. Thus, each can be changed from a non-finite participle clause construction to a finite clause by adding the subject and using the appropriate tense.

He was a very kind man, [helping the needy all the time].
helping the needy all the time > He helped the needy all the time.

He is very belligerent, [fighting his own shadow most of the time].
fighting his own shadow most of the time > He fights his own shadow most of the time.

Participle clauses play various roles in sentences. Some of them state a result of the information in the main clause. Some of them state a reason. And so on. In all of your examples the participle clause provides evidence for the claim in the main clause.

CJ

Helping the needy all the time

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