Is this accepted?

MysteryRiter · Mar 24, 2012

I'm sure this has already been discussed somewhere, but I didn't know what to search for.

In a sentence like this...

Securely i

nside, they spent their time eating.

...When the subordinating clause doesn't have a verb, is it still grammatically correct?

I know I can just say "when they were securely inside" which I often do, but I've read books (small press published, usually) that use the same form as the quoted sentence and I catch myself doing it as well once in a while. Is it grammatically correct?

I assume it isn't--or at least it sounds awkward--but I'm curious.

Thanks!

ETA: Sorry about the quoting fail. I'm trying to fix it but it's doing that automatically.

Terie · Mar 24, 2012

(You can fix the formatting by manually deleting the end and beginning quote markers in the middle of the word 'inside'.)

A dependent introductory clause, such as your example, is perfectly fine.

The danger with this structure is if the subject of the dependent intro clause and the subject of the sentence are different, but in your example, 'they' is the subject of both, so you're good to go.

An example of a bad sentence with this structure would be something like, 'Eating quickly, the house was quiet.' In this example someone is the subject of the intro clause, but 'house' is the subject of the sentence. In this case, the result is a misplaced modifier; that is, 'eating quickly' doesn't modify 'house'.

Billtrumpet25 · Mar 30, 2012

Terie said:
(You can fix the formatting by manually deleting the end and beginning quote markers in the middle of the word 'inside'.)

A dependent introductory clause, such as your example, is perfectly fine.

The danger with this structure is if the subject of the dependent intro clause and the subject of the sentence are different, but in your example, 'they' is the subject of both, so you're good to go.

An example of a bad sentence with this structure would be something like, 'Eating quickly, the house was quiet.' In this example someone is the subject of the intro clause, but 'house' is the subject of the sentence. In this case, the result is a misplaced modifier; that is, 'eating quickly' doesn't modify 'house'.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

BethS · Mar 31, 2012

I would have said, "Once inside, they..."

Is this accepted?

MysteryRiter

Murder isn't so bad...

Terie

Writer is as Writer does

Billtrumpet25

BethS