"Ing" Form- Verb Modifiers

[avithegre8]

Pg 90 of SC guide
I lifted the weight BY CONCENTRATING- Right
The weight was lifted by concentrating- Wrong
So far this is fine, as the explanation given at the end of pg 85 clearly mentions that verb modifiers need a noun subject to make sense. However, I got confused while doing the problem set and referring to the solution of Q14.

Suggested solution to Q14:
"Last night our air conditioner broke, CAUSING great consternation"
- There seems to be no noun subject CAUSING.... in the above sentence as well. So why is this construction correct?

[Willy]

Pg 90 of SC guide
I lifted the weight BY CONCENTRATING- Right
The weight was lifted by concentrating- Wrong
So far this is fine, as the explanation given at the end of pg 85 clearly mentions that verb modifiers need a noun subject to make sense. However, I got confused while doing the problem set and referring to the solution of Q14.

Suggested solution to Q14:
"Last night our air conditioner broke, CAUSING great consternation"
- There seems to be no noun subject CAUSING.... in the above sentence as well. So why is this construction correct?

Verb+ING modifiers can do the two things,

1. Describe the whole clause, (this is the case you are mentioning when you are saying we need "subject" for 'causing')

2. Present the result of clause. (this is what the example is all about)

e.g.

Willy killed the snake, ending its misery.

in above example also, we are presenting the result of the clause.

[tim]

Thanks Willy! Remember, ING words don't have to modify nouns!

[avithegre8]

Thanks you Tim and Willy. Though i sheepishly admit that inspite of going through the offered explanation again n again, i failed to understand the logic.

But thank you again for trying to explain.

Best,

[Willy]

Thanks you Tim and Willy. Though i sheepishly admit that inspite of going through the offered explanation again n again, i failed to understand the logic.

But thank you again for trying to explain.

Best,

I'm sorry if you didn't get it first time, so let me explain it again. I'll try to make it easy for you. :)

Last night our air conditioner broke, CAUSING great consternation.

What is the main clause here? It is -- Last night our air conditioner broke.

Now, part after comma is modifier and it is giving us the result, i.e. what happened when last night our AC broke? -- It caused us great pain!

So when I said, ING+Verb modifiers can present the result of the clause it means part after comma will be somehow related to the result of clause before.

see, in this ex.

Willy killed the ill snake, ending its misery.

Here, "ending its misery" is result of clause - Willy killed the ill snake. i.e. snake was ill and Willy's killing ended its misery, and this is what is shown in the result part.

(I think I should have added "Ill" even the first time to make it easy to understand.)

Hope I'm making some sense this time!

[avithegre8]

Wow.. that was lucid.. got it now! Am so glad that i got my doubt clarified.

Thanks a bunch, willy!
(And my sincere regards too)

[Willy]

Wow.. that was lucid.. got it now! Am so glad that i got my doubt clarified.

Thanks a bunch, willy!
(And my sincere regards too)

You're welcome my friend. :)

Also, don't let any doubt be with you, just let it come out and MGMAT team here is really great and always ready to help.

[jlucero]

Willy, awesome stuff here and great analogies.