"The peasants were the least free of all people, bound by tradition and fettered by superstitions."

Does this sentence need to be broken up by a semi colon, conjuction, or a period? Is there a modifier error here as well?

The peasants were the least free of all people, bound by tradition and fettered by superstitions.

Solution 1:

No, the comma is correct. Bound... is a participial phrase modifying the subject, the peasants, so it is not a clause; normally, only full clauses are set off by a colon, semicolon, or full stop.

As to why you need the comma, a participial phrase that is removed from the subject (or from whatever it modifies) is normally appositional, i.e. a kind of grammatical "afterthought", so less tightly connected to it.