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[daveyh]

I'm a little confused by the previous question asked.

"With their wealth, they sought to gain higher status by buying genealogy books, thereby falsifying their family lineages."

Sentence breakdown

- 'With (PREP) their wealth (OBJ. OF PREP.) = prepositional (adverbial) phrase modifying sought
- 'they (SUBJECT) / sought (MAIN VERB) / to gain (D.O) status (complement) = independent clause
- 'by (PREP) buying (GERUND / OBJ. OF PREP) genealogy books (COMPLEMENT) = prepositional (adverbial) phrase modifying sought

** the remainder of the phrase is what is confusing: 'thereby falsifying their family lineages.'

How is this phrase connected to the independent clause?

[Alan]

It is a participle phrase modifying the subject 'they'.

In terms of overall meaning, is equivalent to adding a second main clause: '...and they thereby falsified...'