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Silvia Black Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Number of clauses
How many clauses are in these sentences?
1. Brangwen never smoked cigarettes, yet he took the one offered, fumbling painfully thick fingers, blushing to the roots of his hair.
2. She ran through another set of rooms, breathless, her feet scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets; then a final doorway suddenly and unexpectedly let her out into the street.
1. Brangwen never smoked cigarettes, yet he took the one offered, fumbling painfully thick fingers, blushing to the roots of his hair.
2. She ran through another set of rooms, breathless, her feet scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets; then a final doorway suddenly and unexpectedly let her out into the street.
Top answer
There are a total of eight. Four are independent clauses and the other four are participial clauses.
- There are a total of eight.
- Four are independent clauses and the other four are participial clauses.
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15 Answers
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There are a total of eight. Four are independent clauses and the other four are participial clauses.
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4 participial clauses...I can find only 3. Can you show me where are they,please?
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1. Brangwen never smoked cigarettes, yet he took the one offered, fumbling painfully thick fingers, blushing to the roots of his hair.
2. She ran through another set of rooms, breathless, her feet scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets; then a final doorway suddenly and unexpectedly let her out into the street.
2. She ran through another set of rooms, breathless, her feet scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets; then a final doorway suddenly and unexpectedly let her out into the street.
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But can we really call them clauses? Clause should have a subject and a predicate.
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The fourth one actually has both a subject and a predicate: her feet (subject) scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets (predicate). The others have just the predicate, but there is a covert subject understood, like in (most) imperative clauses.
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Aspara GusThe fourth one actually has both a subject and a predicate: her feet (subject) scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets (predicate). The others have just the predicate, but there is a covert subject understood, like in (most) imperative clauses.I'm surprised that breathless didn't get your nod for being a clause. My reasoning would
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CalifJim Aspara GusThe fourth one actually has both a subject and a predicate: her feet (subject) scarcely touching the surface of the soft carpets (predicate). The others have just the predicate, but there is a covert subject understood, like in (most) imperative clauses.I'm surprised that breathless didn't get your nod for being a clause. My reasoning would be similar t
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BillJ"Offered" is a past-participial clause functioning as post-head modifier to the NP "the one". Breathless is an adjective, complement of "she", not a clause.I can't tell the difference. Both have a missing subject and verb.
CJ
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CalifJimI'm surprised that breathless didn't get your nod for being a clause.It crossed my mind for a split second, but then I was like “Nah, AdjP”. But you might be right. It could be a verbless clause, though not just because it has a covert subject – the same could be said of the attributive phrase in a poorly written text, which doesn’t have
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Aspara Gus CalifJimI'm surprised that breathless didn't get your nod for being a clause.It crossed my mind for a split second, but then I was like “Nah, AdjP”. But you might be right. It could be a verbless clause, though not just because it has a covert subject – the same could be said of the attributive phrases in an excellent dinner and a poorly written text, which don
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