Monday, October 15, 2018

Participle clauses with past participles



I have read many times that "participle clauses with past participles have a passive meaning" but I came across this sentence which made me confused.Is this sentence grammatically correct?




Attached to a mother that only a son could love, Jerry, the newborn,
suckling pig, felt a profound attraction to ugliness come over him.




I asked this question because the participle clause in this sentence sounds in active voice for me.If I rewrite the sentence it could be :





Jerry attached to a mother that only a son could love. Jerry, the
newborn, suckling pig, felt a profound attraction to ugliness come
over him.




I assume the verb attach is transitive and used in active voice here but Jerry is supposed to be the object of the participle clause in this sentence, not the subject again.



So for me right sentence could be :





Attached by a mother that only a son could love, Jerry, the newborn,
suckling pig, felt a profound attraction to ugliness come over him.



Answer



In this sentence, "Attached to a mother that only a son could love" means that Jerry IS ATTACHED TO the mother that only a son could love. So in fact, alas, neither of your rewrites is correct.


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