Participles: Drinking a coffee, I read a book.
-Drinking a coffee, I read a book.

A native person told me this sentence was extremely awkward. I looked up a usage of participles, and then I realized a participle phrase has to work as an adverbial. Adverbials are supposed to add some information such as When, Where, How, or How Often in the sentence. According to this explanation, the sentence above is actually awkward, because the connection between "drinking" and "read" is very weak.

-Sitting on a couch, I read a book.

This is the sentence I found online. In this example, "sitting" describes HOW I read a book, so that the sentence is correct and natural. Is my understanding right?

Question

Participles: Drinking a coffee, I read a book.
-Drinking a coffee, I read a book.

A native person told me this sentence was extremely awkward. I looked up a usage of participles, and then I realized a participle phrase has to work as an adverbial. Adverbials are supposed to add some information such as When, Where, How, or How Often in the sentence. According to this explanation, the sentence above is actually awkward, because the connection between "drinking" and "read" is very weak.

-Sitting on a couch, I read a book.

This is the sentence I found online. In this example, "sitting" describes HOW I read a book, so that the sentence is correct and natural. Is my understanding right?

Answer

Yes, it's awkward. The correct way is:
I was having a coffee and reading a book.

Answer

Sometimes its not about grammar.

If I am correct, you need to add connection to make it sound better .

Answer

Read in that sentence is past tense not past participle.

Answers · 3

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