That's *very* helpful, as always, Craig.  Thanks!
John

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 2:42 PM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  John,
>    One major factor is intonation. An intonation group is an information
> unit. Non-restrictive modification adds a tone group.  In your first
> sentence, both "brave" and "tears" are given emphasis, but "tears" gets a
> higher default emphasis by being in sentence ending position. The decision
> might also be made on the basis of what follows. "Trying to appear brave,
> the little boy fought back the tears. But it was too much, and soon he was
> wrenched with sobs."  "The little boy fought back the tears, trying to be
> brave. His father had always told him a man shouldn't cry."
>    It would be easy to imagine a single intonation group. "Little boys
> trying to be brave often fight back tears."  Little boys fighting back tears
> are trying to be brave." In these cases, the default emphasis is at the end;
> clause-ending position is the usual place for new information.
>    I hope that helps.
>
> Craig
>
> John Crow wrote:
>
>  The following sentence has the same participle phrase in three positions:
>
>    1. Trying to appear brave, the little boy fought back the tears.
>    2. The little boy fought back the tears, trying to appear brave.
>    3. The little boy, trying to appear brave, fought back the tears.
>
> "The little boy" is obviously given information; "tears" and "brave"
> represent new information.  I know that the decision about where to place
> the participle phrase in a piece of writing would be made according to
> context.  However, some overarching principle should apply, it would seem.
> So my question is this:  does the placement of the participle phrase bring
> either "tears" or "brave" into sharper focus?
>
> Here's my very confused take:
>
>    - Fronting an element is supposed to emphasize that element, so #1
>    emphasizes "brave"?
>     - The final element in a sentence is emphasized, so in #2, "brave" is
>    prominent?
>    - Following this same logic, #1 emphasizes "tears" as well as "brave"?
>    If so, which one is more prominent?
>     - Putting the participle in the middle of the sentence de-emphasizes
>    it, so #3 clearly emphasizes "brave" and only "brave".
>
>  Can anybody help me out of the explanatory morass?  I would be most
> appreciative!
> John
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