Participial Construction

Question

Dear teachers,I have just recently took a test, and I find this sentence very confusing.I hope you can help me understand.Is this considered a grammatically correct sentence?"While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.""He also enjoyed to tell this story about himself."Thank you for your precious time! ^^

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I have just recently took a test, and I find this sentence very confusing.

I hope you can help me understand.

Is this considered a grammatically correct sentence? No, both are incorrect.

"While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name."

"While Caruso was drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name."

"He also enjoyed to tell this story about himself."

"He also enjoyed telling this story about himself."

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

The sentence in question:

While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

It has been said that you can leave out the "be" verb in the first part of the sentence, because it is an "absolute clause" or "absolute construction". If it is an absolute clause, you can leave the "be" verb out. That is true. Let's look at another possibility first.

1. If the first part of the sentence has the same subject as the second part, then it is a "participial clause". It tells about the subject of the second part of the sentence:

http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/8-12.html Creating Modifying Clauses

NTRODUCES A CLAUSE	INTRODUCES A PARTICIPIAL CLAUSE
The conjunctions while, when, before, after and since introduce a second activity to the main sentence. These words, also called adverbial connectors, relate the timing of the second activity by telling us when..	A clause with while, when, before, after and since can be shortened to a modifying clause if the subject of both clauses is the same. (These are also called nonfinite clauses because the verb is reduced to a participle form.)
We came across a skunk while we were walking home.	While walking home, we came across a skunk.
We stopped when we spotted the skunk.	When spotting the skunk, we stopped.
We waited a wile before we continued on.	Before continuing on, we waited a while.
We still smell the skunk after we passed that area.	After passing the area, we still could smell the skunk.
We take a new route home since we saw a skunk there.	Since seeing a skunk there, we take a new route home.

2. Wait! We have different subjects, right? It is not a participial clause then. So, that brings us to an "absolute construction":

http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/phrases.html

Absolute phrases modify absolutely everything.
Unlike other modifiers, absolute phrases do not modify a particular word in a sentence; rather, they modify the entire sentence--setting the scene or background overall, so to speak. An absolute phrase typically consists of a noun (or pronoun) and a participle (see "Participial phrases," above): umbrellas tossing in the wind, his hopes dashed at last. In the following examples, notice that the absolute phrases cannot logically be said to modify any particular word of the main clause:
Umbrellas tossing in the wind, the students at the bus stop huddled under the scant shelter of the elms.
Rodrigo unhappily prepared to vacate and sell his dream home, his hopes for a reconciliation dashed at last.

Like appositives, absolute phrases are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas.

3. In our case, the first part tells us "at what time" the farmer asked the question. So, it is modifying the entire second sentence (setting the scene or background overall, so to speak).

So, it looks like we have an absolute construction, and if that is so, we can leave out the "be" verb to make it shorter:

4. BUT: We started the sentence with "while", a subordinating conjunction, and:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-ABSOLUTECLAUSE.html
ABSOLUTE CLAUSE:

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | TOM McARTHUR | 700+ words | Copyright

ABSOLUTE CLAUSE. An adverbial CLAUSE that has its own subject, and has a participle as its verb or no verb at all: ‘The dinner having been prepared, I had time to take a nap before the guests arrived’. Here, the verb is the participle phrase having been prepared and the subject is the dinner. Contrast the adverbial participle clause in ‘Having prepared the dinner, I had time to take a nap’, where the subject of having prepared the dinner is understood to be identical with the main subject I. An absolute clause is not introduced by a subordinating conjunction: after having prepared the dinner and while preparing the dinner are not absolute clauses. The participle may end in -ing (trembling in ‘His voice trembling, he described what had happened’) or -ed (wasted in ‘Their money wasted on imprudent schemes, they could not expect any further help’). With some irregular verbs, the participle may not end in -ed: spent in ‘Their money spent on imprudent schemes, they could expect no further help.’ Absolute clauses may be without a verb, as in ‘The soldiers emerged from their hiding places, their hands high above their heads’, a corresponding participle clause being their hands held high above their heads. (The end of the previous sentence itself contains an absolute clause with the participle being as its verb.) Outside a few set phrases such as all being/going well, weather permitting, present company excluded/excepted, absolute clauses are infrequent and usually confined to formal written English.

5. Conclusion: It seems to me that the first part of the sentence is confusing two constructions and the rules for those constructions. If we are to use "while" to introduce the clause, then we need our "be" verb. This would show the continuous action of drinking by the subject, Caruso, as implied by the word while. He was drinking at the time that the farmer asked him the question. If we left out "while", our sentence would also be acceptable.

Incorrect: While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Correct: While Caruso was drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Correct: Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Avangi · Answer

AnonymousCorrect: Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

I agree that this one also works.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

These two are nearly identical except the word "while". To me they are both incorrect.

Incorrect: While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Correct: Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

I agree on this one.

Correct: While Caruso was drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Avangi · Answer

Anon's article from Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language seems authoritative enough.

Another example which is frequently given: The game [being] over, the fans filed from the stadium.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AvangiThe game [being] over, the fans filed from the stadium.

I agree this is correct and I understand absolute construction.

i.e. Her baby being sick, Mary was unable to go to work.

Somehow, "being" works much more smoothly, but I have a difficult time seeing the Caruso example, given that it was an excert from a recognized source.

Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

I am not sure why, but the website is acting sort of bizrare as of late. My texts were changed to red after posting. I noticed a few posts were also red.

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressI agree this is correct and I understand absolute construction.

I agree that the stadium example (with or without the "being") is easier to swallow than the Caruso example. I suspect it's because of the "logical" connection. "The game over" is the reason for leaving. (Ditto with your "Mary's baby" example)
There's no such connection in the Caruso example.

But let's face it: there are hundreds of convincing examples in which there's no present participle, or in which the "being" is elipsed.

Rgdz, - A.

Participial Construction

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