Please, could you explain why we should put in the sentence below the gerund of the verb give:
As an educational consultant, I lead workshops on digital media at schools around the country, giving me an unusual glimpse into the hidden world of middle and high school students.
What does GIVING refer to - to the pronoun I or workshops? Is it a relative sentence or complex sentence (reduced adverbial)?
Thanks a lot!
In a comment, John Lawler wrote:
Giving can't have I as its subject because its object is me; it would be myself if the subject were I. This participial clause (not a gerund -- gerunds are only noun clauses and this is an adverb clause, not the subject or object of a verb) is a reduction of a relative clause: workshops on ..., which give me an unusual ... becomes workshops on ..., giving me an unusual ...
I wouldn’t try to express this thought in this way. Your question exposes the awkwardness in this sentence. You’re struggling with the structure, and you wrote it. Imagine the reader’s response. Break the message into two sentences. “I am an educational consultant who conducts workshops across the country. These events give me an unusual glimpse into the hidden world of middle and high school students.”
