What's the grammar of "with such transitions governed"?

Question

It's not uncommon to use *with* to introduce a clause like this: > A particle's energy state jumps about randomly, with such transitions governed by the temperature of the system. What's the grammar rule validating this expression and the use of *with* with the past participle? If there is grammatical terminology to describe this, that would be preferred.

Answer 1

This is an interesting question. In fact there are two sentences here connected together.

1. A particle's energy system jumps about randomly.
2. These transitions (with such transitions) are governed by the temperature...

The second sentence has been reduced to join it as a subordinate clause to the first sentence. The with such... actually means [ this kind of transition]. Then the second main verb is reduced by removing are, which appears here because it is a passive voice, leaving only the past participle (governed). So it's a complex sentence with a reduced clause.

Another way to say this could be:

A particle's energy system jumps about randomly and these transitions [meaning random jumps] are governed by....

This is a compound sentence now, connected with and. The first sentence was a complex one using a reduced subordinate clause.

I hope that answers your question.