User:Fowler&fowler/Participial phrases

This may take a while, so please bear with me. In the sentence, "A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, noted for nonviolent resistance, and becoming the major factor in ending British rule," there are two participial phrases with adverbial meaning (I'll explain this later). There is: "noted for non-violent resistance" (past participle) and "becoming the major factor in ending British rule." (present participle (becoming).

These participial phrases (like adverbs) can occur in (a) Front position (i.e. before the subject): "Feeling exhausted after the long march, Chairman Mao lay down." (present participle. For an adverb, it could be: "Wearily, Chairman Mao lay down." ), (b) Middle position (i.e. between subject and verb) e.g "Chairman Mao, walking to his bed, skidded right and left" (the present participle; middle position) or "Chairman Mao, tired to the bone, fell asleep before he reached his bed." (past participle), (or "Chairman Mao breathlessly lay down." (adverb, middle-position)) and (c) End Position, (i.e. after the verb): "Chairman Mao sat by the window, beaming at his accomplishment." (present part) or "The bats in Wuhan were hanging upside down, wrapped in their brown wings" (past part) (Or, "Chairman Mao woke up excitedly." (adverb, end position)). You can also have both present and past in the same sentence in any position, e.g. "The master, throned on high in his split-bottomed armchair (past part; middle position) was dozing, lulled by the drowsy hum" (past part, end position) (Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer).

First and end positions are more common than the middle, especially if the phrase is long. (You can see a detailed treatment in Hewings Advanced Grammar, Cambridge, page 117; or any of the writing books of Don and Jenny Killgallon.) The thing about participle phrases is that they are removable. The rest of the sentence is still grammatically meaningful without them. This is a contrast from gerunds that cannot be removed (e.g. "Taking a long nap after the Long March relieved Chairman Mao.") So, summing up I have two participial phrases working as adverbs. Both are in the end position, the first is a past partic. and second a present partic. Fowler&fowler«Talk» 17:15, 19 June 2020 (UTC)