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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
There was an odour of disinfectants, mingling
The protagonist, Philip moved in with his uncle Mr. Carey, the Vicar of Blackstable after his mother's death.
He goes to the medical school St. Luke's in London.
He became an out-patients' clerk.
........................................
At that time the out-patients' department at St. Luke's consisted of three rooms, leading into one another, and a large, dark waiting-room with massive pillars of masonry and long benches. Here the patients waited after having been given their `letters' at mid-day; and the long rows of them, bottles and gallipots in hand, some tattered and dirty, others decent enough, sitting in the dimness, men and women of all ages, children, gave one an impression which was weird and horrible. They suggested the grim drawings of Daumier. All the rooms were painted alike, in salmon-colour with a high dado of maroon; and there was in them an odour of disinfectants, mingling as the afternoon wore on with the crude stench of humanity.
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
I think mingling modifies "an odour of disinfectants."
If so, I was wondering why there is a comma before mingling."
Thank you in advance for your help.
He goes to the medical school St. Luke's in London.
He became an out-patients' clerk.
........................................
At that time the out-patients' department at St. Luke's consisted of three rooms, leading into one another, and a large, dark waiting-room with massive pillars of masonry and long benches. Here the patients waited after having been given their `letters' at mid-day; and the long rows of them, bottles and gallipots in hand, some tattered and dirty, others decent enough, sitting in the dimness, men and women of all ages, children, gave one an impression which was weird and horrible. They suggested the grim drawings of Daumier. All the rooms were painted alike, in salmon-colour with a high dado of maroon; and there was in them an odour of disinfectants, mingling as the afternoon wore on with the crude stench of humanity.
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
I think mingling modifies "an odour of disinfectants."
If so, I was wondering why there is a comma before mingling."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
" Yes. 'disinfectants', anyway. Not 'odour'.
- " Yes.
- 'disinfectants', anyway.
- Not 'odour'.
- ' is a reduced relative clause.
- It's non-restrictive; hence, the comma.
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2 Answers
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park sang joonI think mingling modifies "an odour of disinfectants."Yes. 'disinfectants', anyway. Not 'odour'. You might say that 'mingling as the afternoon ...' is a reduced relative clause. It's non-restrictive; hence, the comma. It also counts as a participle clause.
... disinfectants, which were mingling as the afternoon ...
CJ
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... there was in them an odour of disinfectants, mingling as the afternoon wore on with the crude stench of humanity.Here's a version with actual parentheses around the parenthetical phrases:
- ... there was (in them) an odour of disinfectants, mingling (as the afternoon wore on) with the crude stench of humanity.
Now we strike out some of the prep
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