Is the use of a verb-ing still correct after a comma when the subject is changed?

Question

I know that usually we use verb-ing after a comma to say the action before the comma and that after the comma happen simultaneously. (e.g. The figure for bananas continued to grow, overtaking that for apples.)

But is the verb-ing still correct when there is another subject after the comma? I saw a sentence in an IELTS writing textbook: "Most people in both years said their relationships with their supervisors and co-workers were either very good or good, the figure for very good raising from 63% to 70%."

I find this sentence quite strange because I think there should be a "with" after the comma to make it grammatically correct but I am not sure. Could someone help me with this sentence and tell me whether it is grammatically correct or incorrect? And what are the rules behind your judgement?

Answer 1

What you have identified is called an absolute construction or absolute phrase. Quoting from ThoughtCo:

An absolute phrase is a group of words that modifies an independent clause as a whole. […]

An absolute allows us to move from a description of a whole person, place, or thing to one aspect or part.

In other words, the part of the sentence after the comma (with the -ing verb) is grammatical, and is used to give specific attention to one aspect of the subject and/or verb. Let us look at the example you have given:

Most people [subject] in both years said [verb] their relationships with their supervisors and co-workers were either very good or good, the figure for very good [subject for absolute construction] raising from 63% to 70%.

In this example, the figure for very good refers to an aspect of the action of most people saying that their relationships were good. The absolute construction beginning with the figure for very good focuses on the figures for people who said their relationships were very good, rather than people with good relationships in general.