The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

The "subject" of the participle

The doer of the action expressed by the participle is usually the subject of the sentence or the main clause:

A dog

was

barking

in the distance.

How often do

you

go

swimming

?

Grumbling

to himself,

Ted

left the room.

Having seen

the film before,

I

didn't feel like going to the cinema.

The car

was

parked

outside the building.

Taken

daily,

these pills

can be highly effective.

Have

you

ever

tried

skiing?

In participle clauses, it can lead to confusion if the understood subject of the participle is not the subject of the main clause. This is called a misrelated participle:

?While

going

home,

a bus

almost ran over me.

This suggests that the bus was going home. If we mean that I was going home, we have to make the first person singular pronoun I the subject of the main clause:

While

going

home,

I

got almost run over by a bus.

In some cases, however, the subjects can be different without the chance of misunderstanding:

Considering

what she has been through,

she

is doing well.

(If

we consider

what she has been through...)

Judging

from his accent,

he

is from New York.

(As

I judge

from his accent...)

The doer of the action expressed by the participle can also be the noun or pronoun preceding it:

I heard

him singing

in the bathroom.

Who is

the girl sitting

next to you in class?

Our car having broken down

, we had to take a taxi home.

Related topics:

The "subject" of the infinitive

The "subject" of the gerund