Grammar Help, Please.

[abracanabra]

I can't find the correct terminology for this sentence construction, and it has been driving me mad! What is it called when you use a comma to join an independent and a dependent clause without a conjunction--correct only if they describe actions that switch tense from past to present.

For example, "She ran for the door, grabbing her purse as she went."

Would the second clause be a coordinate verb phrase?

I know this is rather technical, but it's bugging me a lot to not be able to use the correct terminology when noting incorrect use.

Comments

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am rarely stumped on noodly grammar bits (although my usual style is full of garbage and errors, b/c lazy), but you got me. Is the example you give correct or incorrect usage?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Hi! half_double sent me.

To my knowledge, what you have there is a complex sentence. It's made up of an independent clause and a dependent clause, and "grabbing" is a participle. So your dependent (or subordinate) clause is a participial phrase.

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

Grammar is essentially a lie almost half of the time.

I am only saying.