Bsrgvty

Why is SpaceX not also working on a smaller version of Starship?

Is there any reason as to why the schematic symbol of comparators is almost equivalent to that of op amps?

How can I convince my child to write?

Does USB version speed matter for input devices?

Are there any mentions of nuclear weapons in M*A*S*H?

Delete a whole nested list if one of the values in that list contains an "Indeterminate" value

Transferring $ from LLC to Personal account

How can you weaponize a thermos

Ground->ship Wi-Fi bandwidth in my fast moving spaceship

In a world where Magic steam Engines exist what would keep people from making cars

Simulate reproduction in a population of oozes

Lost Time at Motel?

What type of interpreter were most 8-bit BASIC implementations?

Flag mashup generator

Why would one use "enter the name of the project to confirm"?

What's politest way of writing you got no reply?

Why does the Eurofighter Typhoon pitch up on brake release?

Translate the French quote "Il n’y a pas d'amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour" to English?

How could hearsay be better evidence than direct?

Inverse Look-and-Say

Why is it so important who the whistleblower in the Trump-Zelensky phone call is?

Is this Astral Rat a reasonable magic pet?

Does Airplane Mode allow GPS location to pass through?

Mistakenly agreed with a scammer’s term of use

Why is this sentence grammatical?

Why do some people say “there have voted”? Is it grammatical, or maybe historical?why is present tense used with before instead of past tense in this sentence?Why is “herself” required in this particular sentence?“Wrote it I did” Is this grammatical?Is this ellipsis kosher? And why?Is there a grammatical term for two “conditional” subordinate clauses being combined with “and”?Why is this sentence incorrect? Why is this other sentence correct?

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty
margin-bottom:0;

6

1

I just encountered this sentence in the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Why is it grammatical? I am just not sure why there could be no conjunction between the two subjects it and he.

And, it being low water, he went out with the tide.

grammaticality syntactic-analysis

share|improve this question

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's a very well-written sentence at that.
  
  – marcellothearcane
  Sep 14 at 8:27
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @BenjaminHarman and Kate Bunting, thanks for your advice! But either way, I still feel a bit strange, because usually participial phrases seem to be used to modify a subject rather than a verb(?); also a participial phrase can begin with a pronoun ("it" in this case)? It seems quite different from the participial phrases we usually see: englishsentences.com/participial-phrase
  
  – Jane
  Sep 14 at 8:57
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's not a participial phrase. "It being low tide" is a 'absolute' construction, a non-finite clause with "it" as subject, and the gerund-participial VP "being low water" as predicate.
  
  – BillJ
  Sep 14 at 11:06
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  5
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This sentence from the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is grammatical because it is a sentence from the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. You cannot learn English by questioning native speakers of English. You can only learn English by following their lead.
  
  – RegDwigнt♦
  Sep 14 at 11:20
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Jane No, you have misunderstood the very notion of a ‘grammatical code’. Textbooks aimed at English language learners never present the real language in full.
  
  – tchrist♦
  Sep 14 at 18:29
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 2 more comments

6

1

I just encountered this sentence in the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Why is it grammatical? I am just not sure why there could be no conjunction between the two subjects it and he.

And, it being low water, he went out with the tide.

grammaticality syntactic-analysis

share|improve this question

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's a very well-written sentence at that.
  
  – marcellothearcane
  Sep 14 at 8:27
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @BenjaminHarman and Kate Bunting, thanks for your advice! But either way, I still feel a bit strange, because usually participial phrases seem to be used to modify a subject rather than a verb(?); also a participial phrase can begin with a pronoun ("it" in this case)? It seems quite different from the participial phrases we usually see: englishsentences.com/participial-phrase
  
  – Jane
  Sep 14 at 8:57
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's not a participial phrase. "It being low tide" is a 'absolute' construction, a non-finite clause with "it" as subject, and the gerund-participial VP "being low water" as predicate.
  
  – BillJ
  Sep 14 at 11:06
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  5
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This sentence from the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is grammatical because it is a sentence from the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. You cannot learn English by questioning native speakers of English. You can only learn English by following their lead.
  
  – RegDwigнt♦
  Sep 14 at 11:20
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Jane No, you have misunderstood the very notion of a ‘grammatical code’. Textbooks aimed at English language learners never present the real language in full.
  
  – tchrist♦
  Sep 14 at 18:29
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 2 more comments

I just encountered this sentence in the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Why is it grammatical? I am just not sure why there could be no conjunction between the two subjects it and he.

And, it being low water, he went out with the tide.

grammaticality syntactic-analysis

share|improve this question

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

edited Sep 14 at 18:28

tchrist♦

115k3131 gold badges311311 silver badges490490 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

asked Sep 14 at 7:44

JaneJane

59733 silver badges88 bronze badges

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

10

[It being low water], he went out with the tide.

The bracketed element is a supplementary non-finite clause.

Since it contains a subject, "it", it belongs to what is known as the absolute construction, one that is subordinate in form but with no syntactic link to the main clause "he went out with the tide".

Supplements are not modifiers; rather, they have a semantic 'anchor' that they refer to, in this case the main clause. But there is no explicit indication here of the semantic relation between the supplement and the anchor. This has to be inferred from the content of the clauses and the context.

The natural interpretation here is causal, more specifically 'reason': "He went out with the tide because it was low water".

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks BillJ! Your explanation has cleared my confusion!
  
  – Jane
  Sep 14 at 13:35
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  The "it" in this sentence is unusual in that it is a pronoun, but unlike most pronouns doesn't take the place of any specific noun. A similar case would be the sentence: "It is raining." What is raining? The sky? The weather? You can't really replace the "it" in that sentence with any noun without sounding awkward.
  
  – Darrel Hoffman
  Sep 14 at 17:05
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes, it's the so-called 'weather' it. A meaningless dummy pronoun serving the purely syntactic purpose of filling the obligatory subject position.
  
  – BillJ
  Sep 15 at 6:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Another example is "It's 10pm" or "It's 2019". And these can be used similarly to the original sentence: "It being raining, he grabbed his umbrella."
  
  – Barmar
  Sep 16 at 18:22
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"u003ecc by-sa 4.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f512541%2fwhy-is-this-sentence-grammatical%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

10

[It being low water], he went out with the tide.

The bracketed element is a supplementary non-finite clause.

Since it contains a subject, "it", it belongs to what is known as the absolute construction, one that is subordinate in form but with no syntactic link to the main clause "he went out with the tide".

Supplements are not modifiers; rather, they have a semantic 'anchor' that they refer to, in this case the main clause. But there is no explicit indication here of the semantic relation between the supplement and the anchor. This has to be inferred from the content of the clauses and the context.

The natural interpretation here is causal, more specifically 'reason': "He went out with the tide because it was low water".

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks BillJ! Your explanation has cleared my confusion!
  
  – Jane
  Sep 14 at 13:35
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  The "it" in this sentence is unusual in that it is a pronoun, but unlike most pronouns doesn't take the place of any specific noun. A similar case would be the sentence: "It is raining." What is raining? The sky? The weather? You can't really replace the "it" in that sentence with any noun without sounding awkward.
  
  – Darrel Hoffman
  Sep 14 at 17:05
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes, it's the so-called 'weather' it. A meaningless dummy pronoun serving the purely syntactic purpose of filling the obligatory subject position.
  
  – BillJ
  Sep 15 at 6:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Another example is "It's 10pm" or "It's 2019". And these can be used similarly to the original sentence: "It being raining, he grabbed his umbrella."
  
  – Barmar
  Sep 16 at 18:22
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

10

[It being low water], he went out with the tide.

The bracketed element is a supplementary non-finite clause.

Since it contains a subject, "it", it belongs to what is known as the absolute construction, one that is subordinate in form but with no syntactic link to the main clause "he went out with the tide".

Supplements are not modifiers; rather, they have a semantic 'anchor' that they refer to, in this case the main clause. But there is no explicit indication here of the semantic relation between the supplement and the anchor. This has to be inferred from the content of the clauses and the context.

The natural interpretation here is causal, more specifically 'reason': "He went out with the tide because it was low water".

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks BillJ! Your explanation has cleared my confusion!
  
  – Jane
  Sep 14 at 13:35
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  The "it" in this sentence is unusual in that it is a pronoun, but unlike most pronouns doesn't take the place of any specific noun. A similar case would be the sentence: "It is raining." What is raining? The sky? The weather? You can't really replace the "it" in that sentence with any noun without sounding awkward.
  
  – Darrel Hoffman
  Sep 14 at 17:05
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Yes, it's the so-called 'weather' it. A meaningless dummy pronoun serving the purely syntactic purpose of filling the obligatory subject position.
  
  – BillJ
  Sep 15 at 6:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Another example is "It's 10pm" or "It's 2019". And these can be used similarly to the original sentence: "It being raining, he grabbed his umbrella."
  
  – Barmar
  Sep 16 at 18:22
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

[It being low water], he went out with the tide.

The bracketed element is a supplementary non-finite clause.

Since it contains a subject, "it", it belongs to what is known as the absolute construction, one that is subordinate in form but with no syntactic link to the main clause "he went out with the tide".

Supplements are not modifiers; rather, they have a semantic 'anchor' that they refer to, in this case the main clause. But there is no explicit indication here of the semantic relation between the supplement and the anchor. This has to be inferred from the content of the clauses and the context.

The natural interpretation here is causal, more specifically 'reason': "He went out with the tide because it was low water".

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges

answered Sep 14 at 11:38

BillJBillJ

5,02611 gold badge1111 silver badges1515 bronze badges