Time of Participles Relative to Finite Verb and Sentence Structure: S. Porter's Hypothesis

Cal Redmond kuyacal at netscape.net
Thu Aug 15 07:30:10 EDT 2002


In his book Idioms, Stanley Porter discuss the time of participles 
relative to the time of the main verb.  He gives the following 
generalization on p. 188 of the first edition:
"If a participle occurs before the finite verb on which it depends (or 
another verb which forms the governing or head term of the 
construction), the participle tends to refer to antecedent (preceding) 
action.  If a participle occurs after the finite (or other) verb on 
which it depends, it tends to refer to concurrent (simultaneous) or 
subsequent (following) action."

I have not encountered this generalization before, nor am I aware of a 
reaction to it.  Can any of you help me by either affirming or denying 
this generalization?

Thank you!

Cal Redmond, Ph. D.
Professor of New Testament
The International School of Theology-Asia
Manila, The Philippines
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