EnglishClub ESL Forums

I've got two requests regarding adverb phrases:

• 1. As you know an adverb phrase is sometimes a reduced form of an adverb clause in which subordinating conjunction is maintained but the subject and any auxiliary verbs are deleted, and the main verb is changed to an -ing form or left as a past participle.
  Examples:
  • * After they returned to the US, they… => After returning to the US, they…
    
    * How many of us would do the same thing if we were given the chance? => …if given the chance?
  Now I want you to reduce the adverb clause in following complex sentence to a phrase:
  If the stopped, the risked a potentially deadly confrontation with criminals.
  
  2. Make the adverb phrase negative:
  With Nicholas lying on his deathbed, Maggie decided that something good ought to come out of this situation.
  Without Nicholas lying… or With Nicholas not lying…

Thank you in advance

The sentence is not English:
If the stopped, the risked a potentially deadly confrontation with criminals.

Perhaps you mean:
If they stopped, they risked a potentially deadly confrontation with criminals.

Subject to the exact context, the following sounds more natural:
With Nicholas no longer lying...

I'm genuinely grateful for your informative response.

Yes, it was a just a slight slip: "They" is the correct word. So how can we reduce it?

About the second question, your sentence seems perfectly plausible, however, between the two options I mentioned which one would you choose?

This might be a solution to what you've asked a question for

Given the chance many of us would do the same.
Having returned to the US they started to learn about Bosnia history.

You are exploring some very complex usages! With #2 I'm not sure what you want to say, since you wouldn't say that someone was not lying on their death bed.

For the first sentence, you could say

"Stopping would pose a risk of a potentially deadly confrontation with criminals."
You can't really reduce that sentence significantly and also preserve the meaning.

I hope this helps. Best wishes.