You standing nearby,

[joham]

________ nearby, I can't concentrate on what the teacher is saying.

A. You are standing B. With you stand
C. Because you standing D. You standing

The given answer is D. It appears that D is grammatically correct. But I should think it is a bad test question. How does it sound natural to native speakers?

Thank you in advance.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's not correct or natural. With you standing... or Because you are standing...

 

[TheParser]

________ nearby, I can't concentrate on what the teacher is saying.

A. You are standing B. With you stand
C. Because you standing D. You standing

The given answer is D. It appears that D is grammatically correct. But I should think it is a bad test question. How does it sound natural to native speakers?

Thank you in advance.

***** A NON-TEACHER's COMMENT *****


(1) If you google "nominative absolute," you will probably find

much information about this construction.

(2) Yes, it does not sound "natural."

(3) Nevertheless, it is 100% correct.

(4) Here are some examples that I found in my grammar books:

He having already gone, we talked to his mother.

I knowing all about it already, he addressed himself to Pirwhitt.

He being rich and I poor, everybody took his side against me.

They having arrived at last, the conference was resumed.

I being noncommittal, they turned to my brother.

(5) You may wish to occasionally use this elegant construction in

your writing.


Respectfully yours,


James

 

[freezeframe]

While this construction can be elegant, don't use it if you don't have a full grasp of it. As you can see from SoothingDave's response, it doesn't always sound natural to native speakers. So, it should be used carefully and sparingly. This kind of construction can be easily rephrased into something more natural sounding using because, since, when.

 

[Barb_D]

It seems to be a comma splice to me.

 

[freezeframe]

It seems to be a comma splice to me.

Comma splice occurs when a comma joins two independent clauses. "You standing nearby" is not an independent clause.

 

[Barb_D]

True enough. A comma splice was not the right term to use.

This construction sounds so completely wrong to me.

With you standing nearby, Because you are standing nearby, etc. all sound okay.

Some of the example in Parser's list seem okay (that is to say "natural") to me, and others sound horrible.

I accept it's grammatical, but I repeat the warning to not use this form in your own writing at this stage.

I wager that if I used it at work, there would be people trying to "correct" it.

 

[Tdol]

I am not entirely convinced that it is an 'elegant' construction in most cases. ;-)