V-ing after comma

[newsunflower93]

Hi guys

I want to ask you a question. I have read a sentence in a book and don't know why they wrote it :?:
"The earliest written records from the great civilization of ancient Greece date back to the ninth century BC, but the height of that civilization, the "classical period", came several hundred years later, beginning a little before 500 BC"

Thank you very much

 

[canadian45]

The sentence is fine.

 

[angelsrolls]

If you change "beginning" to "and began", I think the meaning will remain intact. So, we can say that "V-ing after comma" sometimes means "and + verb".

Apart from that, it, for example, might mean:

There was no evidence at the crime scene, putting the police into a difficult situation. (=There was no evidence at the crime scene, which put the police into a difficult situation. / There was no evidence at the crime scene. This put the police into a difficult situation.)

I'm a non-native English speaker. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Newsunflower:

IF I understand one of my favorite books correctly, I may have the grammatical explanation.

1. To analyze a sentence, it is always a good idea to simplify it as much as possible.

A. So let's analyze: "The height of that civilization came several hundred years later, beginning a little before 500 BC."

2. If you carefully think about that sentence, you will notice that it seems to consist of two sentences:

"The height of that civilization came several hundred years later. It [the height of that civilization that came several hundred years later] began a little before 500 B.C."

a. If you want to speak like that, it is, in my opinion, perfectly correct.


3. But speakers usually express those two sentences in three smoother ways -- especially in writing:

a. "The height of that civilization came several hundred years later, so that it began a little before 500 B.C."

b. "The height of that civilization came several hundred years later, beginning a little before 500 B.C."

c. "The height of that civilization came several hundred years later, thus beginning a little before 500 B.C."



James


If I have given an accurate explanation, all credit for this explanation goes to George Oliver Curme in Vol. II of A Grammar of the English Language (1931), page 293.

 

[newsunflower93]

Thank you guys! I think your explanation is correct!