Whenever he was alone with his girlfriend, in a car driving somewhere, they had nothing to say to each other.

【翻译】每当他和女朋友单独在车里开车的时候，他们之间就没什么好说的了。

【分析】网友这个句子值得研究！

这个短语有两部分组成：in a car + driving somewhere

（1）它仍然属于时间从句中的成分，也就是说：它修饰时间从句作状语，不是修饰后面的主句。

（2）逗号有两大作用。一个是语句太长，说话人需要停顿；一个是照顾意群，为了断句。

这个句子可以有如下几种断句，看看它们的区别在哪？

1. Whenever he was alone with his girlfriend , in a car driving somewhere, they had nothing to say to each other. （原句）

2. Whenever he was alone with his girlfriend in a car driving somewhere they had nothing to say to each other. （去掉两个逗号，取消停顿）

3. Whenever he was alone with his girlfriend in a car driving somewhere, they had nothing to say to each other. （去掉最后那个逗号，保留主、从句之间的停顿）

4. Whenever he was alone with his girlfriend , driving somewhere in a car, they had nothing to say to each other. （把in a car 和driving somewhere调换位置）

5. Whenever he was alone with her girlfriend in a car, driving somethere, they had nothing to say to each other. （网友给出的断句）

【逐句解析如下】

句1：in a car driving somewhere 整个词组不要分开。它提供了“和女朋友单独相处”的具体事例。就这个词组本身而言，in a car 是主要信息，driving somewhere 是次要信息。“在车里”提供了“他们单独相处”的典型事例，而driving somewhere 是顺理成章的事。不然的话，“坐在车里”而不driving somewhere岂不是没有意义？

句2：in a car 是时间从句（即：he was alone with his girlfriend）的“地点状语”，而driving somewhere 是“伴随状语”。

句3：和句2没有差别。主、从句之间有无逗号停顿，均可。

句4：driving somewhere in a car 是时间从句的“伴随状语”。我们把句4跟句1做个比较：

in a car driving somewhere（句1）

driving somewhere in a car（句4）

这两个词组，表面看没有差别。实际上，它们之间差别还不小呢。我用两个句子说明：

The boys were on the playground playing basketball.

（on the playground 是“表语”，是主要成分，主要信息。playing basketball 是“伴随状语”，次要成分，次要信息。）

The boys were playing basketball on the playground.

（were playing basketball 是进行时态, 是主要成分，主要信息。on the playground 是“地点状语”，次要成分，次要信息。）

这就是句4和句1的根本差别。

句5：也就是网友给出的句子。driving somethere 放在从句和主句之间，两边用逗号隔开。这时，说它修饰从句也可，修饰主句也可。driving somethere 若修饰从句作伴随状语，修饰主句也是一个时间状语。