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Optimus Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Restrictive or Unrestrictive

A student wrote to me yesterday deploring his ignorance and requesting me to recommend him books to read to become wise.
A student wrote to me yesterday, deploring his ignorance and requesting me to recommend him books to read to become wise.

Hello. Which of the two setences is right? I think the second one is correct because the participial phrase doesn't change the meaning of the clause (A stuent wrote to me yesterday) and because the participial phrase modifies "student" and not the word it is directly followed by. No?
My answer is based on the material from Purdue's online writing lab. Please enlighten me.
Thank you


Punctuation: When a participial phrase begins a sentence, a comma should be placed after the phrase.
  • Arriving at the store, I found that it was closed.
  • Washing and polishing the car, Frank developed sore muscles.
If the participle or participial phrase comes in the middle of a sentence, it should be set off with commas only if the information is not essential to the meaning of the sentence.
  • Sid, watching an old movie, drifted in and out of sleep.
  • The church, destroyed by a fire, was never rebuilt.
Note that if the participial phrase is essential to the meaning of the sentence, no commas should be used:
  • The student earning the highest grade point average will receive a special award.
  • The guy wearing the chicken costume is my cousin.
If a participial phrase comes at the end of a sentence, a comma usually precedes the phrase if it modifies an earlier word in the sentence but not if the phrase directly follows the word it modifies.
  • The local residents often saw Ken wandering through the streets.
    (The phrase modifies Ken, not residents.)
  • Tom nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence.
    (The phrase modifies Tom, not woman.)
  

Top answer

Deploring his ignorance, etc modifies the whole matrix clause ( A student wrote to me yesterday ), so the nonfinite clause does actually follow upon what it modifies. Therefore, the comma would not be used (the clause does, after all, restrict, in that it carries the meaning and intention of the sentence; the simple existence of a letter is of no interest to the writer or reader); that said, I think the length and complexity of the nonfinite clause warrants the comma for clarity and breathing space. The Purdue site is a good one, by the way.

— Mister Micawber

  • Deploring his ignorance, etc modifies the whole matrix clause ( A student wrote to me yesterday ), so the nonfinite clause does actually follow upon what it modifies.
  • Therefore, the comma would not be used (the clause does, after all, restrict, in that it carries the meaning and intention of the sentence; the simple existence of a letter is of no interest to the writer or reader); that said, I think the length and complexity of the nonfinite clause warrants the comma for clarity and breathing space.
  • The Purdue site is a good one, by the way.
  • I frequently access it myself.
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3 Answers
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Deploring his ignorance, etc modifies the whole matrix clause (A student wrote to me yesterday), so the nonfinite clause does actually follow upon what it modifies. Therefore, the comma would not be used (the clause does, after all, restrict, in that it carries the meaning and intention of the sentence; the simple existence of a letter is of no interest to the writer or reader)
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My two cents.
I agree that the clause restricts and that a comma "would not be used".
The word "his", only the second word in the clause in question, makes it unambiguous to my ear that the only possible referent is "the student". Since clarity is provided so close to the beginning of the clause, I don't feel that a comma is necessary for clarity. I'm not completely convinced that
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Actually, I think I agree, Jim. I'll step over to your side of the line in the sand.
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