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 > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/