Multi-Clause Sentences(65) a. Pressed by reporters, the president acknowledged that the war
was a fiasco.In cases like (65a), the participle non-restrictively modifies the subject of
the main clause (the president), as the paraphrases (65b and c) show:
(65) b. The president, pressed by reporters, acknowledged that the war
was a fiasco.
c. The president, who was pressed by reporters, acknowledged that
the war was a fiasco.Alternatively, the participle phrase in (65a) can be paraphrased as a full or
reduced adverbial clause:
(65) d. When (he was) pressed by reporters, the president acknowledged
that the war was a fiasco.Sometimes, speakers (and more problematically, writers) will produce
preposed participles that cannot be associated with the subject of the sen-
tence to which they are attached:
(66) Pressed by reporters, the war was acknowledged to be a fiasco.When a preposed participle cannot easily be associated with an NP in the
main clause, it may difficult to interpret. Such difficult-to-interpret partici-
ples are referred to in style manuals and composition textbooks as dangling
participles, which writers are advised to avoid.
In certain cases, often called absolute constructions (italicized), a parti-
ciple may contain a subject (bolded):
(67) a. All things being equal, we decided to take the train.
b. His soul riven by guilt, Aaron plunged from the precipice.
The term absolute suggests a construction set apart from the rest of the
sentence. An absolute modifies the entire sentence that follows it, much as
an adverbial clause does.
Exercise
(a) Identify the entire participial phrase in each of the following sen-