emphasis on fronted participial phrases

Eric Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Thu Oct 31 10:00:34 EST 2002


Generally, "fronted" phrases/clauses/words are given prominence or
emphasis, as I understand the features of Greek word order.

Are there rules or guidelines for this when the fronted phrase is
participial (excluding genitive absolutes)? I.e., when would a fronted
participial phrase be viewed as the prominent aspect/feature of a
sentence?

E.g., I would think a sentence like "Having gotten into the boat, Peter
dropped his nets into the water" would still view the finite verb
("dropped") as being the proper emphasis or focus, if there is any,
because I think this is the more usual way such sentences are structured
-- i.e., with the participle/participial phrase at the beginning of the
sentence.

I think the contrary order of "Peter dropped his nets into the water,
after getting into the boat" is not the usual or common one.

--
Eric S. Weiss
http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm
S.D.G.





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