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I'm looking for a grammatical explanation for this clause

Men tend to talk about fewer subjects, the most popular being work, and sport.

In other words, we could say "..., among which, work and sport are the most popular". But I can't find a grammatical explanation for the first one ".. being work and sport."

KillingTime
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user373735
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  • The clause you quote is perfect. There is no need to rewrite it. Also, the rewrite is far more difficult to follow. – TechnoCat Feb 02 '20 at 10:16
  • This is a deletion from 'Men tend to talk about fewer subjects, the most popular of these [subjects] being work, and sport.' The tacked-on information is in an adjunct, an absolute clause. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 26 '21 at 16:08

1 Answers1

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If you want to phrase it in grammatical terms "being" is a present participle that can replace the finite verb (in this case "are") of a non-restrictive relative clause. The latter is not a subordinate clause but an adjunct (that is it provides supplementary information).

  • This one can be added to the list of possible grammatical functions of -ing participial clauses containing a subject, contributed by StoneyB here https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/105900/understanding-absolute-construction –  Feb 02 '20 at 11:40
  • Of course I was not claiming that all -ing clauses only replace relative clauses... –  Feb 02 '20 at 11:44
  • I know, I just thought that it might be useful to put this particular use in the context of the range of other functions that -ing clauses can perform. –  Feb 02 '20 at 11:53
  • Yes, that's useful. –  Feb 02 '20 at 11:55