Grammar

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

As far as I know, we can say:
1. Walking into the room he found a man lying on the floor'. Here the logical subject of walking is 'he'. Or we can say '
2. He rushed into the room, his face covered with sweat. Here 'his face covered with sweat' is an independent element.
But please read the following sentence:

He closed his eyes an instant but opening them his face lit up as though he had struck a match in a dark room.

My question is what is the function of 'opening them his face lit up '. According to grammar the logic subject should be 'face' but how obviously here it refers to 'opening up his eyes'.
So in the sentence I cited 'opening them his face lit up ' belongs to neither structure. So is it a mistake?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear teachers,

As far as I know, we can say:
1. Walking into the room he found a man lying on the floor'. Here the logical subject of walking is 'he'. Or we can say '
2. He rushed into the room, his face covered with sweat. Here 'his face covered with sweat' is an independent element.
But please read the following sentence:

He closed his eyes an instant but opening them his face lit up as though he had struck a match in a dark room.

My question is what is the function of 'opening them his face lit up '. According to grammar the logic subject should be 'face' but how obviously here it refers to 'opening up his eyes'.
So in the sentence I cited 'opening them his face lit up ' belongs to neither structure. So is it a mistake?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

It's a poor sentence. In "opening them", "them" obviously refers to eyes. The easiest fix would be inserting "after" before opening.

[jiang]

Dear Mike,

Thank you very much for your reply. Now I see.

Have a nice weekend.

Jiang

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

It's a poor sentence. In "opening them", "them" obviously refers to eyes. The easiest fix would be inserting "after" before opening.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear Mike,

Thank you very much for your reply. Now I see.

Have a nice weekend.

Jiang

You're welcome.