participial phrase

[W]

Hello, thanks for viewing this post.

I looked up some rules regarding participial phrases. For example, in the sentence [Amy drew her mother, humming a tone to herself.], the participial phrase can modify either Amy or her mother.

The rules say to write the sentence as the following to avoid ambiguity:

[Amy drew her mother, who was humming a tone to herself.]
[Amy drew her mother humming a tone to herself.]

If that is the case, then why do I find in published works so many sentences smiliar to aforementioned one? Like [He was gone again, leaving his wife behind, once more indulging in alcohol.]

[Dozy]

People do not always write perfect English, even in published works.

[W]

...so, it's alright to use it in everyday English?

[Dozy]

Ambiguity is best avoided in any situation.