Participial clause

Question

Hi,Sitting in a room, they talked about their children.A: While they sat in a room, they talked about their children.B: Before they sat in a room, they talked about their children.Can both "A" and "B" be the counterparts for the above participial clause depending on the context?I'd appreciate your help.

Amar singh · Accepted Answer

I want  to know english completely

Avangi · Answer

jooneySitting in a room, they talked about their children.

A: While they sat in a room, they talked about their children.

B: Before they sat in a room, they talked about their children.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "counterparts."

(A) ( A ) carries the same meaning as the original, but (B) does not.
Context cannot change the contrasting meanings of the two "time" words ("while/before").
The participial phrase would typically be interpreted as "while."

In my opinion, the original is not a participial clause.

(A) ( A ) and (B) both begin with subordinate clauses.

Amar singh · Answer

Why be anonymous?

Jooney · Answer

Than you for the reply, Avangi.

What I meant was paraphrases. So is there any way you can modify the original sentence to convey the meaning of "B"?

In my opinion, the "above" is not a participial clause.

Yes, you are right. "sitting in a room" is a participial clause.

Avangi · Answer

Hi jooney,

Sorry, I edited "the above" and made it "the original." It was a bit confusing.

Modern opinions vary as to what makes a clause, but I still believe it needs a verb with a tense, and a subject.
To me, the following are all phrases:
- sitting in a room
- while sitting in a room
- before sitting in a room

And these are clauses:
- they were sitting in a room (before the fire started).
- while they were sitting in a room, (a fire started).
- before they were sitting in a room, (I saw them outside).

I don't know of a way to make the original like the "before" example without adding the word "before."

Jooney · Answer

Thank you very much for your help, Avangi.<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AvangiModern opinions vary as to what makes a clause, but I still believe it needs a verb with a tense, and a subject.To me, the following are all phrases: - Agree. But many modern grammarians called participle phrases " non-finite clauses"

sitting in a room - I agree with Avangi. This is not a participle clause in the sense that it lacks a semantic element It's a fragment resembling a participle clause. The sentence below works because "while" makes it a semantically tangible context.

While sitting in a room, we talked about our children. Or, We talked about our children while sitting in a room. While- in my opinion is a conjunction connecting the two clauses: While [we were] sitting in the room, we talked about our children. The blue part in brackets were omitted to reduce the continuous clause to a non-finite clause.

Participial clause

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