A participle is considered to belong to the noun or pronoun that immediately precedes it (which usually, but not necessarily, is the subject of the main verb).
The boy, climbing the tree to get birds' eggs, had a bad fall.
If there is no noun/pronoun in this position the participle is considered to belong to the subject of the following main verb:
Climbing the tree to get birds' eggs, the boy had a bad fall. Sometimes this principle is disregarded and confusion results:
Climbing down the tree, one of the eggs broke. This word order makes it appear that the egg was climbing, which is nonsense. A participle linked in this way to the wrong noun/pronoun is said to be 'misrelated'. The sentence should be rewritten:
Climbing down the tree he broke one of the eggs or
As he was climbing down the tree one of the eggs broke.
Other examples of this type of error are given below. Correct the sentences. Sometimes only a change of order is required.
1 When leaving a car in this car park the brakes must be left off.
2 Wading across the river, the current swept me off my feet.
3 When filling a tank with petrol naked lights should be extinguished.
4 Running into the room, a rug caught her foot and she fell.
5 Reading the letter a second time, the meaning becomes clearer.
6 When carrying a gun it should never be pointed at anyone.
7 When planting these flowers care must be taken not to damage the roots.
8 Riding in his first race, his horse fell at the last jump.
9 When paying by cheque, a bank card should be shown.
10 Knowing me to be the fool of the family, the news that I had won a scholarship astonished him.
11 Believing that his last hour had come, his hands began to tremble.
12 Passing under a ladder, a pot of paint fell on my head.
13 Reading in bed, my hands often get very cold.
14 Leaving the cinema, it seemed to him that the film had been exceptionally bad.
15 Barking furiously, I led the dog out of the room.
16 Having paid my taxes, the amount left in the bank is hardly worth mentioning.
17 Writing my name in the hotel register, a familiar voice attracted my attention.
18 Tied to a post, the sea was tossing the boat up and down.
19 Misunderstanding the question, the wrong answer was sent in.
20 Shining in the sky, we saw the first star.
21 When driving carelessly it is easy to have an accident.
22 Pinned to the door by a knife, the man saw a notice.
23 Written in large letters they read the words 'No Entry'.
24 While cleaning his gun it went off unexpectedly.
25 Wondering where to go, an advertisement caught my eye.
26 Rushing out of the house, a lorry knocked me over.
27 Sitting by the fire, it all comes back to me.
28 Falling from such a height, we thought he would never survive.
29 When changing a fuse the electricity should first be switched off.
30 Towed behind the car, I saw a trailer with a boat on it.
31 While sitting at the foot of a cliff a stone fell on him.
32 Driving to work, the traffic jams infuriated him.
33 Dropped by parachute, the country seemed entirely unfamiliar.
34 Sitting in the dentist's chair, an idea suddenly occurred to me.
35 Weakened by his last illness, 1 felt sure that another winter in4his country would kill him.
36 Getting out of bed, a scorpion bit him.
Passive
Ex.82 Active to passive
Put the following into the passive voice. The agent should not be mentioned except in numbers 11 and 28.
1 You should open the wine about three hours before you use it.
2 Previous climbers had cut steps in the ice.
3 Somebody had cleaned my shoes and brushed my suit.
4 We use this room only on special occasions.
5 You must not hammer nails into the walls without permission.
6 In some districts farmers use pigs to find truffles.
7 Someone switched on a light and opened the door.
8 Somebody had slashed the picture with a knife.
9 They are pulling down the old theatre.
10 Why didn't they mend the roof before it fell in?
11 The mob broke all the shop windows in recent riots.
12 The librarian said that they were starting a new system because people were not returning books.
13 The police asked each of us about his movements on the night of the crime.
14 Someone will serve refreshments.
15 People must not leave bicycles in the hall.
16 Members may keep books for three weeks. After that they must return them.
17 The burglars had cut an enormous hole in the steel door.
18 I've bought a harp. They are delivering it this afternoon. (Do not change the first sentence.)
19 Someone has already told him to report for duty at six.
20 They rang the church bells as a flood warning.
21 No one can do anything unless someone gives us more information.
22 People are spending far more money on food now than they spent ten years ago.
23 The organizers will exhibit the paintings till the end of the month.
24 They will say nothing more about the matter if someone returns the stolen gun.
25 It is high time someone told him to stop behaving like a child.
26 A thief stole my dog and brought him back only when I offered £20 reward for him.
27 The judge gave him two weeks in which to pay the fine.
28 They make these artificial flowers of silk.
Ex.83 Active to passive
Put the following into the passive, mentioning the agent where
necessary.
Where there is an indirect and a direct object, make the indirect object the subject of the passive verb.
They gave her a clock.
She was given a clock.
The gerund after certain verbs is replaced in the passive by should be + past participle:
They advised employing part-time workers.
They advised that part-time workers should be employed.
1 They feed the seals at the zoo twice a day.
2 Who wrote it?
3 Compare clothes which we have washed with clothes which any other laundry has washed.
4 He expected us to offer him the job.
5 They showed her the easiest way to do it.
6 Lightning struck the old oak.
7 Titian couldn't have painted it as people didn't wear that style of dress till after his death.
8 A jellyfish stung her.
9 The author has written a special edition for children.
10 Judges used to carry sweet herbs as a protection against jail-fever.
11 What did he write it with? ~
He wrote it with a matchstick dipped in blood.
12 An uneasy silence succeeded the shot.
13 Did the idea interest you?
14 The lawyer gave him the details of his uncle's will.
15 Beavers make these dams.
16 They used to start these engines by hand. Now they start them by electricity.
17 Most people opposed this.
18 Students are doing a lot of the work.
19 The Prime Minister was to have opened the dry dock.
20 They recommended opening new factories in the depressed area. (Use should.)
21 The closure of the workshops will make a lot of men redundant.
22 Anyone with the smallest intelligence could understand these ' instructions.
23 We will not admit children under sixteen.
24 Boys of sixteen to eighteen are to man this training ship.
25 A rainstorm flooded the gypsies' camp.
26 The howling of wolves kept him awake all night.
27 They suggested making the tests easier. (Use should.)
28 Children couldn't have done all this damage.
Ex.84 Passive to active
Turn the following sentences into the active voice. Where no agent is mentioned one must be supplied.
School notice: This door must be kept shut.
Students must keep this door shut.
1 Why don't you have your eyes tested? (... get an optician to... See 119.)
2 This speed limit is to be introduced gradually.
3 The runways are being lengthened at all the main airports.
4 It is now 6 a.m. and at most of the hospitals in the country patients are being wakened with cups of tea.
5 Byron is said to have lived on vinegar and potatoes.
6 By tradition, any sturgeon that are caught by British ships must be offered to the Queen.
7 This notice has been altered.
8 The owners went away last March and since then their houseboat has been used continuously by squatters. (Use a continuous tense and omit continuously.)
9 The damaged ship was being towed into harbour when the towline broke.
10 Have a lift put in and then you won't have to climb up all these stairs.
11 Last year a profit of two million pounds was made in the first six months but this was cancelled by a loss of seventeen million pounds which was made in the second six months.
12 Evening dress will be worn.
13 The ship was put into quarantine and passengers and crew were forbidden to land.
14 Someone will have to be found to take her place.
15 He was made to surrender his passport.
16 This rumour must have been started by our opponents.
17 My paintings are to be exhibited for the first time by New Arts Gallery.
18 This scientific theory has now been proved to be false.
19 The car which was blown over the cliff yesterday is to be salvaged today.
20 The house where the dead man was found is being guarded by the police to prevent it from being entered and the evidence interfered with.
21 Why wasn't the car either locked or put into the garage?
22 It is being said that too little money is being spent by the government on roads.
23 Your money could be put to good use instead of being left idle in the bank.
24 For a long time the earth was believed to be flat
25 This copy hasn't been read. The pages haven't been cut
The stoneswerethrownby a student, who was afterwards led away by the police.
27 Carrier pigeons are said to have been used by early Egyptian and Greek sailors.
28 The referee was being escorted from the football field by a strong police guard.
9. Indirect speech
Ex.85 Indirect speech: statements
1. Students are asked to assume that these sentences are spoken and reported on different days. This will mean that a sentence such as:
He said, 'I am coming tomorrow,' will become: He said that he was
coming the next day, and so on.
This applies to all the exercises on indirect speech in this book.
2. With indirect speech, when the person addressed is mentioned, tell is more usual than say to as an introductory verb. For example:
He told me that he was going away the next day is more usual than
He said to me that he was going away the next day.
Put the following into indirect speech.
1 'I have something to show you,' I said to her.
2 'Nothing grows in my garden. It never gets any sun,' she said.
3 'I'm going away tomorrow, mother,' he said.
4 'I've been in London for a month but so far I haven't had time to visit the Tower,' said Rupert.
5 'It isn't so foggy today as it was yesterday,' I remarked.
6 'The new underpass is being officially opened the day after tomorrow,' said the ВВС announcer.
7 'We have moved into our new flat. We don't like it nearly so much as our last one,' said my aunt.
8 'We have a lift but very often it doesn't work,' they said.
9 'From one of the windows of my flat I can see the Eiffel Tower,' he said.
10 'I've no idea what the time is but I'll dial 8081 and find out,' said his daughter.
11 He said, 'My wife has just been made a judge.'
12 'I'll come with you as soon as I am ready,' she replied.
13 'I have a German lesson this afternoon and I haven't done my homework yet,' said the small boy.
14 'If you let the iron get too hot you will scorch your clothes,' I warned her.
15 'You haven't given me quite enough. The bill is for £14 and you've paid me only £13,' he pointed out.
16 Ann said, 'Englishmen make good husbands because they are nearly always willing to help in the house.'
17 Mary answered, 'I like men to be useful but I don't like them to be too domesticated. I prefer them to keep out of the kitchen altogether. Men look silly in aprons anyway.'
18 Motoring report: The new Rolls Royce runs so quietly that all you can hear is the ticking of the clock.
Managing director of the Rolls Royce company: In that case we'll have to do something about the clock.
19 'I don't know what to do with all my plums. I suppose I'll have to make jam. The trouble is that none of us eats jam,' she said.
20 'We like working on Sundays because we get double pay,' explained the builders.
21 He said, 'I am quite a good cook and I do all my own washing and mending too.'
22 'You can keep that one if you like, Joan,' he said. 'I've got plenty of others.'
23 'I'm going fishing with mother this afternoon,' said the small boy, 'and we are going into the garden now to dig for worms.' (Omit now).
24 'You've got my umbrella,' I said crossly. 'Yours is in your bedroom.'
25 'I know exactly what they said,' the private detective explained to his client, 'because I bugged their phone.'
26 'I'll sit up till she comes in, but I hope she won't be late,' he said.
27 'If you give me some wire, I'll hang that picture for you,' said my cousin.
28 'I have a Turkish bath occasionally, but it doesn't seem to make any difference to my weight,' she said.
29 'This is quite a good model, madam. I use one of these myself,' said the salesman.
30 'My new house is supposed to be haunted, but so far I haven't seen any ghosts,' she said.
31 The advertisement said, 'If you answer the questions correctly you may win £100.'
32 'If I press my ear against the wall, I can hear what the people in the next flat are saying,' he said.
