I see this particular sentence structure all the time when reading fiction, and it bothers me. I most often see it in between dialogue tags.
- She whispered, her hair blowing in the wind.
It’s always an independent clause followed by [subject][gerund verb][object/last part of sentence]. I think it’s grammatically incorrect and that it would look better as [independent clause].[separate sentence].:
- She whispered. Her hair blew in the wind.
Or as [independent clause] as [independent clause].:
- She whispered as her hair blew in the wind.
Or if the second subject was actually the same as the first, one could do:
- She whispered, blowing wind through her hair.
I know that the lattermost three examples are grammatically correct, but is the first example grammatically correct? Is it grammatically correct to use [independent clause], [subject][gerund verb][object/last part of sentence]?