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There's been a gentleman here asking for you, sir.

As far as I know, In this form the participle always comes immediately after the object of the main clause.

After I saw this sentence above. A question came to my mind: Can I use an adverbial phrase between the object of the main clause and the participle clause? I think the question I quoted above does that.

For example:

1- I found him under the tree waiting for me.

2- I left my cat on my bed lying down.

3- Stream pushed the ducks along the riverside whistling to each other. (In the meantime, the ducks were whistling to each other.)

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The problem with your examples is that each of those inserted phrases ends with a noun which precedes a participle clause and can combine with it, giving some false sense. With such a word order, an additional comma just after the noun could prevent from reading like: 'tree waiting for me', 'my bed lying down' and 'the riverside whistling'.

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  • Where should I put the comma? I think if I wrote this way "I found him, under the tree waiting for me." or "I found him under the tree, waiting for me" , it would be a dangling participle phrase. Jun 1, 2019 at 14:55
  • Hmm I think this one works: " I found him ,under the tree, waiting for me. Jun 1, 2019 at 15:02

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