With the party

Question

The Conservatives have taken a string of former Labour strongholds, with the party forecast to watch in the general election with a comfortable majority.

I saw the above at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50765773

What is the grammatical function of "with the party...majority"? When do we use this "with preposition phrases"?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

JigneshbharatiThe Conservatives have taken a string of former Labour strongholds, with the party forecast [to watch in the general election]??? with a comfortable majority.

I did not find this sentence at the link provided; however, I did find the sentence below as the title of a YouTube video:

The Conservatives have taken a string of former Labour strongholds, with the party forecast to win the general election with a comfortable majority.

'cast' and its compounds 'broadcast' and 'forecast' are irregular verbs. All three parts of the verb are identical: forecast, forecast, (have) forecast.

So the word 'forecast' in the sentence above is a past participle. I see that structure as primarily a participle clause to which 'with' has been added at the beginning, which is occasionally done. (Technically, this addition makes it a prepositional phrase, of course, because 'with' is a preposition.) Note that the participle clause has an explicit subject (the party), which is not as common as a participle clause which takes implicitly as its subject the subject of the main clause.

Loose paraphrase: The Conservatives have taken a string of former Labour strongholds, so the experts are forecasting that the (Conservative) party will win the general election with a comfortable majority.

JigneshbharatiWhen do we use these "with preposition phrases"?

In my opinion, these kinds of constructions should be used sparingly. The weakest kind is "with ... being". "with" can be placed before a participle clause only when that clause has an explicit subject.

The mother duck swam across the pond, her little ducklings trailing along behind her.
The mother duck swam across the pond with her little ducklings trailing along behind her.

CJ

With the party

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