Participal

Question

Hello,1. Hearing the noise, the boy woke up.The word "hearing" qualifies the noun "boy" as an adjective.The above senteces is wriiten in  a book.I am not able to understand , how does "hearing" modify the worod "boy"?Could any bpdy explain it to me?thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

hanuman_2000how does "hearing" modify the worod "boy"?

Because it means that the boy heard the noise. The boy heard the noise and woke up.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hi CJ,

"Because it means that the boy heard the noise. The boy heard the noise and woke up."

My question is: does the present participle subsitute the clause "The boy heard..."?

If the answers to the question is positive, then, in my opinion, the present participle "hearing" is a non-finite clause not necessarily modifying the subject but being rather a part of the predicate "Hearing the noise" in such a non-finite clause.

Anonymous · Answer

I believe the explanation is that this is an elliptical sentence (that is, words have been omitted and are understood from the context).  The full sentence is, "Upon hearing the noise, the boy woke up."   In this sentence "hearing the noise" is a noun phrase that functions are a noun (for example, the following can be a sentence:  "Hearing the noise was all it took for the deer to bolt." - the subject of the sentence is the noun phrase "Hearing the noise"), and is the object of the preposition "upon."  The prepositional phrase "Upon hearing the noise" functions as an adverb and modifies the verb "woke up."

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousdoes the present participle subsitute the clause "The boy heard..."?

Close, but not exactly. In this sentence it's more like "Because he heard the noise".

Anonymousthen, in my opinion, the present participle "hearing" is a non-finite clause not necessarily modifying the subject

Yes. In that case we might think of hearing the noise as adverbial. That is an alternate interpretation. Many grammar books, however, would consider this participial clause adjectival, so if the English course you are taking uses this approach, it would be prudent to take this approach yourself - at least for the purposes of your course.

Anonymous but being rather a part of the predicate "Hearing the noise" in such a non-finite clause.

I don't understand your point here. hearing the noise is in fact a non-finite clause and its implicit subject, as usual in these cases, is the same as the subject of the main clause, namely the boy.

In any case, take a look at this sentence:

The boy woke up hearing the noise.

In this sentence the participial clause hearing the noise suggests He heard the noise as he woke up.

The position of these structures influences the way we extract their meaning.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hi,

"Upon hearing the noise"

That's an interesting explanation, which see hearing as an adverbial part of the predicate, not the modifier of the subject the boy. Nevertheless, I think that the sentence "Hearing the noise, the boy woke up" has got a verblike form of the -ing -word, i.e. a present participle "Hearing" . A participle clause "Hearing the noise" refers to the subject the boy and the question is whether such a clause modifies the subject of the sentence ('the boy') or substitute the clause "The boy heard the noise". If it substitutes the clause "The boy heard the noise" , then I somehow cannot accept the notion that the finite-clause "The boy heard the noise" (or its non-finite substitute "Hearing the noise" ) modifies the subject.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, CJ, for your useful reply.

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