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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

participle clause "it being"

Hi everyone,

I have a slight problem with the "it being" construction in a participle clause.

Suppose I have the following:
"Because it was sunny, I decided to go outside."

If I want to use a participle clause, however, I'd have to say:
"It being sunny, I decided to go outside."

Wouldn't it be wrong to just say:
"Being sunny, I decided to go outside."

The above sentence, sounds to me as if I were the one being sunny. Strangely, I've often heard people use the construction just like that.

Thank you in advance,

chompipe
  

Top answer

" You're right. ) It's only correct if the person who is speaking claims a sunny disposition. '

— Davkett

  • " You're right.
  • ) It's only correct if the person who is speaking claims a sunny disposition.
  • '
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10 Answers
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Anonymous"Being sunny, I decided to go outside."

You're right. (People are wrong a lot in everyday speech.)

It's only correct if the person who is speaking claims a sunny disposition. But then it might be better to have said, 'Feeling sunny, I decided to go outside...and deal with the dreary day.'
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Thank you very much davkett, makes sense now. I was just a little confused because I kept hearing the wrong version.
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"Being sunny, I decided to go outside"

I think the sentence has a dangling modifier. Wouldn't the sentence mean that I am being sunny and I decided to go outside?.
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Rishonly,

See Chompipe's original post.
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In everyday speech and informal writing, the ambiguity of dangling modifiers is resolved by the fact that we are usually speaking or writing to people who possess a modicum of common sense. In most such cases we find the humor only when we take a perversely literal and pedantic point of view.

"Peering through the microscope, the butterfles were seen to be more beautiful than ever.
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Isn't it just an accepted ellipsis? How can something used so frequently be classified as wrong?
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CalifJim"Peering through the microscope, the butterfles were seen to be more beautiful than ever."
Here there is no question that the butterflies were not peering through the microscope!
Using the verbal 'peering', how can this example be put so as to be grammatically 'correct' for those 'perverse pedants' amoung us?

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Dear 'Perverse' Pedants!

Shall I add 'disingenuous', for surely you know the answer!

"Peering through the microscope, we saw that the butterflies were even more beautiful." (or some such)

Have a nice day!
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CalifJim"Peering through the microscope, the butterfles were seen to be more beautiful than ever."
Here there is no question that the butterflies were not peering through the microscope!

They may have been looking back at us in wonderment...

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MrPedantic
CalifJim"Peering through the microscope, the butterfles were seen to be more beautiful than ever."
Here there is no question that the butterflies were not peering through the microscope!

They may have been looking back at us in wonderment...


I feel the same way.

"If you look into the abyss....."
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