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Comma+with vs Comma+ing

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by lunarpower » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:07 am
apex231 wrote:Hi Mitch, how do we know that "with" is not modifying "visitors to the park have often looked at"?

Thanks!
as with many other flexible modifier types, you have to use common sense (along with an understanding of what the sentence is actually intended to say) to make that determination.
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by vikram4689 » Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:52 am
with arms and legs hanging serves as an adverb modifying SLEEPING (a verb functioning as an adjective). HOW are the monkeys SLEEPING? With arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline.
Mitch mentioned above quote BUT sleeping is NOT acting as a verb here, it is acting as a participle modifier so can i say that "with arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline" is acting as an ADJECTIVE MODIFIER modifying monkeys.
If "with..." were acting as a ADVERB then it should modify verb SEEN and hence should be compliant with SUBJECT - visitors
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:11 am
vikram4689 wrote:
with arms and legs hanging serves as an adverb modifying SLEEPING (a verb functioning as an adjective). HOW are the monkeys SLEEPING? With arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline.
Mitch mentioned above quote BUT sleeping is NOT acting as a verb here, it is acting as a participle modifier so can i say that "with arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline" is acting as an ADJECTIVE MODIFIER modifying monkeys.
If "with..." were acting as a ADVERB then it should modify verb SEEN and hence should be compliant with SUBJECT - visitors
Adjectives modify nouns.
Adverbs modify EVERYTHING ELSE (verbs, adjectives, etc.).
An adverb can certainly modify a participle (a verb serving as an adjective).
To illustrate:

John offered an umbrella to the woman walking THROUGH THE RAIN.

Here, THROUGH THE RAIN serves as an ADVERB modifying walking. How was the woman WALKING? She was walking THROUGH THE RAIN.
Note that through the rain is NOT an adjective modifying woman: a woman through the rain clearly is not the intended meaning here.

Onto the SC at hand:

Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and seen monkeys SLEEPING on the branches, WITH ARMS AND LEGS HANGING like socks on a clothesline.

Here, with arms and legs hanging serves as an adverb modifying SLEEPING (a verb functioning as an adjective). For more on this issue, please see my post above.
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by vikram4689 » Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:46 am
Thanks Mitch, can rule be stated as

..,with modifier acts as an adverb AND
..with modifier acts as an adjective or an adverb depending on context

And similar is the case for any prepositional phrase
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