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Twistedthistle Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Participial phrase
Hi everyone, in the following sentence:
The Goombots were finally defeated in the year 2233, marking the dawn of a new era of freedom on the planet Zoid.
The phrase "marking the dawn of a new era of freedom on the planet Zoid." is, i believe, a participial phrase, which to my knowledge should act as an adjective. My question is, which word in the sentence is the phrase modifying here? The Goombots? Because that seems wrong to me, but I can't think of any other word it might be modifying.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance
TT
The Goombots were finally defeated in the year 2233, marking the dawn of a new era of freedom on the planet Zoid.
The phrase "marking the dawn of a new era of freedom on the planet Zoid." is, i believe, a participial phrase, which to my knowledge should act as an adjective. My question is, which word in the sentence is the phrase modifying here? The Goombots? Because that seems wrong to me, but I can't think of any other word it might be modifying.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance
TT
Top answer
A participial clause can modify the entire main clause. In this case, it adds extra information to the idea of the defeat of the Goombots, so a case can be made for a main clause modifier. But our grammarians who subscribe to more modern theories of syntactic analysis may have other ideas.
- A participial clause can modify the entire main clause.
- In this case, it adds extra information to the idea of the defeat of the Goombots, so a case can be made for a main clause modifier.
- But our grammarians who subscribe to more modern theories of syntactic analysis may have other ideas.
- Certainly this element is not in the category of "adjective," which has a more restricted definition than a general modifier.
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5 Answers
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A participial clause can modify the entire main clause.
In this case, it adds extra information to the idea of the defeat of the Goombots, so a case can be made for a main clause modifier. But our grammarians who subscribe to more modern theories of syntactic analysis may have other ideas.
Certainly this element is not in the category of "adjective," which has a more restricted de
In this case, it adds extra information to the idea of the defeat of the Goombots, so a case can be made for a main clause modifier. But our grammarians who subscribe to more modern theories of syntactic analysis may have other ideas.
Certainly this element is not in the category of "adjective," which has a more restricted de
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Thanks AlpheccaStars
Would it be fair, then, to describe it as an absolute phrase? or even an absolute participial phrase (if such a thing exists!)
Would it be fair, then, to describe it as an absolute phrase? or even an absolute participial phrase (if such a thing exists!)
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No, it is not an absolute clause. An absolute clause has a noun or pronoun as the "subject" of the non-finite verb.
Here is a long thread with a lot of discussion on absolute clauses.
http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/AbsoluteClauseIssue/bchwdx/post.htm
Here is a long thread with a lot of discussion on absolute clauses.
http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/AbsoluteClauseIssue/bchwdx/post.htm
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i see. So still participial but modifying the entire clause rather than an individual word, Thanks AlpheccaStars.
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twistedthistleThe phrase "marking the dawn of a new era of freedom on the planet Zoid." is, i believe, a participial phrase,It has the verb "mark" (marking), so it's better to say it's a (participial) clause.
twistedthistlewhich to my knowledge should act as an adjective.No, it doesn't have to act as an adjec
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