Re: Word-Order Patterns (was Periphrastic)

From: Richard Lindeman (richlind@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Tue Dec 12 1995 - 09:03:36 EST


You wrote:

>I think what we have here is a logical pattern of word-order that represents
>chronological sequence and that one will find normally observed UNLESS the
>writer has a
>particular emphasis he/she wants to make, in which case rhetorical
>positioning of words and phrases in the most emphatic locations occurs:

>(a)participles that are generally adverbial and are used to explain the
>circumstances constituting the setting of the action described by the main
>verb come first; more often than not, these go into English best in an
>adverbial clause headed by an adverbial conjunction such as "when,"
>"since," "although," "if," or the like;

>(b) participles that are generally
>adverbial and that indicate action or state resultant upon or subsequent to
>the action of the main verb will follow the verb. I think this will work
>with all of the above instances.
>

Exactly! I find this distinction to be especially helpful for beginning
students who have great difficulty with the adverbial use of the participle.
If they look for this distinction between adverbial participles (those going
before the verb and those following the verb) it essentially cuts their
complexity in half.

Perhaps you are correct in calling it an example of word order more than
having anything. But the effect still is that you often end up translating
the participle verbally just *as if* it were a periphrastic construction.

Rich Lindeman

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