Noun modifier: present participle with commas

[yongwookl716]

Hello. Instructors please help me.

The strategy guide says that
Present Participle WITH commas is a noun modifier.
(where as present participle WITHOUT commas is a verb mod.)

So if a sentence says

The cat, SLEEPING on the rug, is named "Sue."

(instead of the original sentence in the Strategy Guide without commas)

Is this incorrect, because the modifier becomes dangling?

[RonPurewal]

__ing modifiers without commas describe nouns.
I looked at the pictures hanging on the wall. ("hanging on the wall" describes the pictures, and has nothing to do with my act of looking at them)

__ing modifiers with commas describe the entire action of the clause to which they are attached.
I dropped the bags onto the floor, scaring the dogs. ("scaring the dogs" describes my action of dropping the bags onto the floor; obviously, the dogs are not afraid of the floor)

so, this summary is backward.

[RonPurewal]

The cat, SLEEPING on the rug, is named "Sue."

so that ^^ is wrong, because the cat's act of sleeping on the rug clearly has nothing to do with its name.

[RonPurewal]

two more examples that should make this clear:

Darren, standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students.
––> this sentence is nonsense: there is no plausible relationship between darren's height and his knowledge of physics.

Darren, standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best basketball players.
––> this sentence is sensible, since it's quite reasonable that darren's height contributes to his basketball prowess.

[yongwookl716]

oops

I wrote everything in backwards.


It is quiet clear now, though.
thanks a lot ron.
you are the best

[tim]

Glad Ron was able to clear this up for you!

[RonPurewal]

oops

I wrote everything in backwards.


It is quiet clear now, though.
thanks a lot ron.
you are the best

thanks.

[aflaamM589]

Two quick questions:

Darren, standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students.
––> this sentence is nonsense: there is no plausible relationship between darren's height and his knowledge of physics.

Darren, who stands over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students
or
Darren, who is standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students
Further,
The cat, who is SLEEPING on the rug, is named "Sue.
-->now correct, right Ron?
============================
Darren, standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best basketball players.
Standing over seven feet tall, Darren is one of the school's best basketball players
Darren is one of the school's best basketball players, standing over seven feet tall

All three are correct and have exactly same meaning, right Ron?

[RonPurewal]

Darren, who stands over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students

^^ fine

Darren, who is standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best physics students

^^ "is standing" is nonsense, because it implies that a person's height is a temporary thing that could change. ("is VERBing" is used for the current state/action of something that ISN'T PERMANENT)

The cat, who is SLEEPING on the rug, is named "Sue.

^^ it's arguable whether "who" or "which" should be used for animals, but that debate is irrelevant to the exam.

[RonPurewal]

Darren, standing over seven feet tall, is one of the school's best basketball players.
Standing over seven feet tall, Darren is one of the school's best basketball players

^^ these are fine

[RonPurewal]

Darren is one of the school's best basketball players, standing over seven feet tall

^^ this doesn't work.

when the __ing FOLLOWS the sentence, the implication is that it's either a DESCRIPTION or a CONSEQUENCE of whatever the sentence says.

here, the relationship is the other way around: the phenomenon described in the sentence (darren's prowess in basketball) comes FROM his height. so, the __ing should come in front of the sentence.

these two versions are NEVER equivalent.
it's possible that both of them could make sense, but their meanings would be radically different.

e.g.,

Packing her bags and moving to Texas, Stephy started an entirely new life.
—> first, she decided to move to texas. once the move was already underway, she found that she was "starting an entirely new life".

Stephy started an entirely new life, packing her bags and moving to Texas.
—> first, she was like "i'm going to start all over again". then she made it happen by packing up and moving to texas.

[aflaamM589]

Perfect!
God bless you

[RonPurewal]

sure.

[Basic6]

__ing modifiers without commas describe nouns.
I looked at the pictures hanging on the wall. ("hanging on the wall" describes the pictures, and has nothing to do with my act of looking at them)

__ing modifiers with commas describe the entire action of the clause to which they are attached.
I dropped the bags onto the floor, scaring the dogs. ("scaring the dogs" describes my action of dropping the bags onto the floor; obviously, the dogs are not afraid of the floor)

so, this summary is backward.

Hi, Ron
I have 2 questions:

1. Does present/past participle have to modify the immediately NOUN?
I looked at the pictures of my Mom hanging on the wall. -->Can hanging modify the pictures?

2. Does that clause have to modify the immediately NOUN?
I looked at the pictures of my Mom that were hung on the wall.-->Can that clause modify the pictures?

Thanks!!

[RonPurewal]

hi,
please change your username.
i'm not comfortable interacting with a user whose name is "RonGod". thank you.

__


i don't know the terminology you're using, so, i'm going to ignore it. (if the terminology actually matters, i might be misinterpreting your questions.)

I looked at the pictures of my Mom hanging on the wall. -->Can hanging modify the pictures?

^^ yes.

I looked at the pictures of my Mom that were hung on the wall.-->Can that clause modify the pictures?

^^ yes.