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We sometimes use a comma before a participle clause:

There's Neville, eating as usual.

In came the first runner, closely followed by the second.

A little girl walked past, her doll dragging behind her on the pavement.

The bomb exploded, destroying the building

And sometimes not:

We can offer you a job cleaning cars.

I found him sitting at a table covered with papers.

How does it work?

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In many cases we use a comma where it would be natural to make a slight pause in speech.

In your last two examples, it would be wrong to include a comma. Cleaning cars is what the job consists of, not an added description. A table covered with papers is where 'he' was sitting. If there was a comma there, it would suggest that 'he' was covered in papers! (Compare I found him sitting at a table, drinking tea.)

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  • Can you say it works similarly to defining and non-defining relative clauses?
    – Xonela
    Commented Apr 20 at 10:22
  • Yes, that's exactly what it is!
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 20 at 11:41
  • So "There's Neville, eating as usual." means "There's Neville, who is eating as usual" and "We can offer you a job cleaning cars." means "We can offer you a job which is cleaning cars."? (Note the use of the commas)
    – Xonela
    Commented Apr 20 at 12:01
  • Yes, that is what I meant.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 20 at 15:28

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