Clause

Question

Is the clause, "crossing the stream" a relative clause in the sentence,"Crossing the stream, we got our feet wet."?

MountainHiker · Accepted Answer

Guest,

After consulting [url="http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/clauses.htm"]Clauses: the Essential Building-Blocks[/url], I believe the answer is no.

Quoting from the referenced web page.

Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced by a Relative Pronoun (that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of which).

"Crossing the stream" is a participial phrase. You can look [url="http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#participle"]for a definition of Participle[/url] and here at [url="http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#participle"]The Garden of Phrases[/url] for some examples of participial phrases.

I hope this helps.

MountainHiker

Clause

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