Verb after comma: grammar rules clarification

Question

Hi allNeed some advice on the following sentence.South Korean yards were hit by a global slump, caused first by the financial crisis of 2007-08 and the fall in world trade.I know this sentence is correct; I am just unsure as to how to classify the grammar rules for the bold bit of the text. Does the second clause count as a subordinate clause? It doesn't have a subject, or has it been abbreviated. Thanks for the clarification.

BillJ · Accepted Answer

South Korean yards were hit by [a global slump, caused first by the financial crisis of 2007-08 and the fall in world trade].

Yes, the underlined element is a subordinate past-participial clause modifying slump.

Semantically, it is similar to a relative clause, c.f. a global slump that was caused by the financial crisis of 2007-08 and the fall in world trade.

But it is not analysed as a relative clause since there is no possibility of it containing a relative phrase. Compare the ungrammatical *a global slump that caused by the financial crisis of 2007-08 and the fall in world trade.

Past-participial clauses are non-finite, and most non-finite clauses have no overt subject. But in a sense we understand them as having subjects. In your example we understand it to be a global slump.

Note that the past-participial clauses are passives.

Verb after comma: grammar rules clarification

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