<ol>
<li><p>Why is "Having pleaded in vain for improved maintenance services, the tenants refused to pay rent until the landlord agreed to make the much-needed repairs" better than "because of pleading in vain for improved maintenance services, the tenants refused to pay rent until the landlord agreed to make the much-needed repairs"?</p></li>
<li><p>Why is "Uncertain how to proceed with the scene, the actors stopped, awaiting for furhter instructions from the director" wrong"?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Because the second one is awkward as hell.</p>
<p>For the second one I think it should be “… the actors stopped and waited…” I think…</p>
<p>because clauses usually stay in same time period as the main independent phrase. A participle phrase, ie having…, usually means it happened before the main verb. Thus it makes the most logical sense in this context</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think it’s because yours doesn’t state who is pleading</p></li>
<li><p>since they “stopped”, they should have “awaited”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
The participial phrase “Having pleaded” modifies “the tenants.” This means that it simply describes the tenants: The tenants have pleaded in vain for improved maintenance services. Having pleaded in vain…, the tenants… This description works well with “the tenants refused to pay rent,” because it tells you what they have done in the past to make them not want to pay rent–that is, they have pleaded in vain for improved services in the past in light of which it makes sense that they are now refusing to pay their landlord.</p>
<p>“Because of pleading in vain…, the tenants refused…” suggests that the tenants refused to pay rent because they pleaded in the past. There is no direct cause-and-effect relationship between the pleading and the refusal, so this construction is illogical. They didn’t refuse to pay rent because they pleaded for better services in the past. The relationship is merely incidental: one incident occurred, and then another incident occurred. Having done one thing, the tenants did another thing.
It sounds awkward I guess. Saying that is like saying I ran, tripping over a crack in the sidewalk–which is tantamount to I ran while tripping over a crack in the sidewalk–instead of the simple and more precise I ran and tripped over a crack in the sidewalk.</p>
<p>In the second sentence, I think that “Uncertain how to proceed with the scene” refers to the director rather than the actors.</p>
<p>Not sure, am i correct ??</p>
<p>No…it modifies the subject at the beginning of the independent clause, which is “the actors.”</p>
<p>Kudos to crazybandit for the great explanation for 1. </p>
<p>I think number 2 is incorrect because if you leave “awaiting” in the ing form it implies that when the actors stopped, they were in the process of waiting for further instruction. What is trying to be expressed is that when they stopped, they began waiting. I agree with Kali22, the best way to convey this would prolly be to say “the actors stopped and waited.”</p>