280 Misrelated participles

A participle is considered to belong to the noun/pronoun which precedes it:

Tom, horrified at what he had done, could at first say nothing.

Romeo, believing that Juliet was dead, decided to kill himself.

A man carrying a large parcel got out of the bus. Note that the participle may be separated from its noun/pronoun by a main verb:

Jones and Smith came in, followed by their wives.

She rushed past the policeman, hoping he wouldn 't ask what she had

in her suitcase.

If there is no noun/pronoun in this position the participle is considered to belong to the subject of the following main verb:

Stunned by the blow, Peter fell heavily. (Peter had been stunned.)

Believing that he is alone, the villain expresses his thoughts aloud. If this principle is disregarded confusion results. Waiting for a bus a brick fell on my head makes it appear that the brick was waiting for a bus, which is nonsense. A participle linked in this way to the wrong noun/pronoun is said to be 'misrelated'. The above sentence should be rewritten As I was waiting for a bus a brick fell on my head. Other examples of misrelated participles:

When using this machine it must be remembered . . . Correct form:

When using this machine you must remember . . .

Believing that I was the only person who knew about this beach, the sight of someone else on it annoyed me very much. Correct form:

As I believed I was the only person etc. or

Believing that I was the only person on the beach, I was annoyed by

the sight of someone else.

27 Commands, requests, invitations, advice, suggestions

281 Commands expressed by the imperative

A The second person imperative

1 This has the same form as the bare infinitive:

Hurry! Wait! Stop!

For the negative we put do not (don't) before the verb: Don't hurry!

2 The person addressed is very often not mentioned, but can be expressed by a noun placed at the end of the phrase:

Eat your dinner, boys. Be quiet, Tom. These nouns can be placed before the verb, but this is much less usual.

The pronoun you is rarely used unless the speaker wishes to be rude, or wishes to make a distinction, as in: You go on; I'll wait.

3 do can be placed before the affirmative imperative:

Do hurry. Do be quiet. This do could be persuasive, but could also express irritation.

В The first person imperative Form let us (let's) + bare infinitive:

Let us stand together in this emergency. For the negative we normally put not before the infinitive:

Let us not be alarmed by rumours. But it is possible in colloquial English to put don't before let's:

Don't let's be alarmed by rumours.

By let us (let's) the speaker can urge his hearers to act in a certain way, or express a decision which they are expected to accept, or express a suggestion (see 289).

С The third person imperative Form let him/her/it/them + bare infinitive (see also 322):

Let them go by train.

This is not a very common construction in modern English. It would be more usual to say:

They are to go/must go by train.

The negative imperative, let him/her/them + negative infinitive, is not used in modern English. Instead, we would use must not or is/are not to:

They must not/are not to go by air. .