with +comma+ main clause.

[thanghnvn]

I want to reopen this discustion of this question from gmatprep of course. D is oa.

"with+comma+main clause" modify main clause and dose not need to refer to a specific noun in the main clause. answer choice D ilustrates this point. "with phrase" in D refer to NO noun in the main clause.



//Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people// now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

A. Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people

B. As the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and as mobile phones became increasingly common, many people

C. In the last year, with the cost of wireless service plummeting, and mobile phones have become increasingly common, there are many people

D. With the cost of wireless service plummeting in the last year and mobile phones becoming increasingly common, many people are

E. While the cost of wireless service has plummeted in the last year and mobile phones are increasingly common, many people are


in most cases, "with +comma+ main clause" modifies main clause and refers to a specific noun in the main clause.

fo example:

with his hand tied, he run into the office.

in this case, "with phrase" refers to "he"

what I want to say is that there are 2 cases: "with phrase" refer to a noun in the main clause and "with phrase" refer to NO noun in the main clause.

Ron, expert, is my thinking correct?

[RonPurewal]

Ron, expert, is my thinking correct?

in this case, it looks fine, yes.

[wangyinwei_2005]

Hi,sorry to bump up this old post:
I am just unclear about the meaning of "with" here,
Can "comma+with..." here express causaltiy?
can I translate D to
[Because the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and mobile phones became increasingly common, many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.]?

[RonPurewal]

Hi,sorry to bump up this old post:
I am just unclear about the meaning of "with" here,
Can "comma+with..." here express causaltiy?
can I translate D to
[Because the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and mobile phones became increasingly common, many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.]?

that's how the construction is used here, yes.

this sort of construction doesn't have to indicate direct cause and effect. in other words, unlike "because", it can point more vaguely to circumstances surrounding and/or influencing some other observation, even if there is not necessarily a direct cause-effect relationship.

[thanghnvn]

we want to get full list of uses of "with phrase". I will make an attempt to do so here.

"with phrase" is a prepositional phrase, so it can modify a noun or a verb.

- "with phrase" modify a noun
- "with phrase" modifies a verb and refers to a specific noun in the clause which contains the verb.
- "with phrase" modifies a verb and refer to NO noun in the clause.

expert, pls comment and give us the example for the above 3 cases.

we need to be sure of grammartical use of an entity to be prepared to find out the meaning errors of that entity.

[wangyinwei_2005]

Hi,sorry to bump up this old post:
I am just unclear about the meaning of "with" here,
Can "comma+with..." here express causaltiy?
can I translate D to
[Because the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and mobile phones became increasingly common, many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.]?

that's how the construction is used here, yes.

this sort of construction doesn't have to indicate direct cause and effect. in other words, unlike "because", it can point more vaguely to circumstances surrounding and/or influencing some other observation, even if there is not necessarily a direct cause-effect relationship.

Thank you RON! it's more clearer now!

[tim]

we want to get full list of uses of "with phrase".

No, we most certainly do not! As Ron and i have told you MANY times on this forum, any attempt to generate a complete list of anything in SC is almost certainly the wrong approach. Please work on your understanding of sentences and not try to reduce everything to unrealistically constraining rules..