miketuan

[odd sage]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[topaz mica]

I'm guessing you meant sentences like these: 'With his army scattered, the general fled', 'By raising his arms, he surrendered', and 'Having finished his work, he left'.
The second and third exist, they are called adverbial clauses, expressed by the gerundive and by the present participle respectively.
However, they only work if the subject in the subordinate clause is the same subject in the main clause : « En se levant les bras, il s'est rendu (the one raising his arms is the one in the main clause) / Avoir fini son travail, il est parti (the one who left is the one who had finished his work) ».
For the first, you cannot make this sentence since the subject in the subordinate clause (his army) is not the same as the subject in the main clause (the general) so you have to reword that:
« Parce que son armée s'est dispersée, le général s'est enfui. (Because his army has dispersed, the general ran away) »

[thin kayak]

Is "With his army scattered, the general fled" really such an example of this? It reads to me like "With his scattered army, the general fled", or even "With his army, the general fled" which don't seem to be examples. But my logic may be wrong

[topaz mica]

'With his army scattered' means 'Since his army was scattered'
We can rephrase it into something like, 'His army being scattered'

Basically, his army scattered therefore he ran; the adverbial clause is explaining the cause of why the main clause happened. 'With his scattered army, the general fled' is a different; it doesn't explain why the general fled, only that he did alongside his scattered army.

[thin kayak]

Ah that makes sense

So the "being" is implied in "With his army (being) scattered"

Or "His army (being) scattered, he ..."

You'd have to figure that out by context