The subject of participle

Question

the subject of participleThe passage below comes from ‘THE BLANK SLATE.’http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm Though many of my arguments will be coolly analytical — that an acknowledgment of human nature does not, logically speaking, imply the negative outcomes so many people fear — I will not try to hide my belief that they have a positive thrust as well. “Man will become better when you show him what he is like,” wrote Chekhov, and so the new sciences of human nature can help lead the way to a realistic, biologically informed humanism.... They identify the moral intuitions that we can put to work in improving our lot. They promise a naturalness in human relationships, encouraging us to treat people in terms of how they do feel rather than how some theory says they ought to feel. They offer a touchstone by which we can identify suffering and oppression wherever they occur, unmasking the rationalizations of the powerful.In this passage I’m not sure about what is the subject of the two participles, ‘encouraging’ and ‘unmasking.’In a way the subject of the two can be ‘they(=the new sciences of human nature).’In that case the author can change the underlined words with ‘and encourage,’ and ‘and unmask.’On second thought, the subject of the two can be the preceding content of the sentence; ‘encouraging’ can be written as ‘which encourages,’ in this case ‘which’ refers to ‘promise a naturalness in human relationships,’ and ‘unmasking,’ as ‘which unmasks,’ so ‘which’ refers to ‘identify suffering and oppression.’Can you tell me which way do you prefer?If you don’t agree with either of the two, can you suggest another?Thanks in advance.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Stenka25the subject of the two can be ‘they(=the new sciences of human nature).'

Can be and is.

Stenka25In that case the author can change the underlined words with ‘and encourage,’ and ‘and unmask.’

Possibly, but not necessarily. The relationship by which a participle clause is related to a main clause is not so fixed that we can say it's always "and". In fact, it's rarely so simple as "and". It could be "because" or "thereby".

Stenka25On second thought, the subject of the two can be the preceding content of the sentence; ‘encouraging’ can be written as ‘which encourages,’ in this case ‘which’ refers to ‘promise a naturalness in human relationships,’ and ‘unmasking,’ as ‘which unmasks,’ so ‘which’ refers to ‘identify suffering and oppression.’

Possibly, but the relationship you're looking for is not there. Participle clauses have a relationship with the sentences they are attached to that is inherently vague. This involves some guesswork if you really want to take the trouble to analyze the nuances.

Stenka25Can you tell me which way do you prefer? (There's never a "do", "does", or "did" in an indirect question unless the question word is the subject of its clause.)

I have no preference between the two you have suggested. I'm inclined to try to find a "thereby" relationship first if possible, and that's what I suspect is reasonable here. In other words, instead of using the participle clause, we can often write a second sentence that contains "thereby" or begins with "By doing so" or "In this way".

They promise a naturalness in human relationships, encouraging us to treat people in terms of how they do feel rather than how some theory says they ought to feel.

They promise a naturalness in human relationships. [By doing so / In this way], they encourage us to treat people in terms of how they do feel rather than how some theory says they ought to feel. (They thereby encourage us ....)

CJ

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot as always, CJ.
You help me whenever I'm in a dead end.
Thanks again for proofreading.

The subject of participle

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions