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Seagull Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

A participle construction

(a) Having lost all my money, I had to give up my plan.

(b) Because I had lost all my money, I had to give up my plan.

According to a grammar book I have, (a) means the same as (b). Then, what about this?

(c) Having understood what the teacher said, the students were satisfied.

(d) Because they had understood what the teacher said, the students were satisfied.

Actually, (d) sounds odd to me. What do you think? How should it be written?
  

Top answer

seagull According to a grammar book I have, (a) means the same as (b). When they say "means the same", they are not accounting for the fact that (b) is a "paraphrase" of (a), and that using the exact same formula to paraphrase all such constructions does not always lead to an elegant sentence. Paraphrases are used to give you the general idea of the meaning of the original sentence; they are not necessarily meant to be beautifully constructed sentences on their own.

— CalifJim

  • seagull According to a grammar book I have, (a) means the same as (b).
  • When they say "means the same", they are not accounting for the fact that (b) is a "paraphrase" of (a), and that using the exact same formula to paraphrase all such constructions does not always lead to an elegant sentence.
  • Paraphrases are used to give you the general idea of the meaning of the original sentence; they are not necessarily meant to be beautifully constructed sentences on their own.
  • "Because" is only one possibility you have open to you in paraphrasing this kind of participle construction.
  • In your second sentence, (d) serves as a possible paraphrase of (c), but I would use "Once" or "After" to produce a more idiomatic paraphrase.
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4 Answers
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seagullAccording to a grammar book I have, (a) means the same as (b).
When they say "means the same", they are not accounting for the fact that (b) is a "paraphrase" of (a), and that using the exact same formula to paraphrase all such constructions does not always lead to an elegant sentence. Paraphrases are used to give you the general idea of the meaning of
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seagull(c) Having understood what the teacher said, the students were satisfied. (d) Because they had understood what the teacher said, the students were satisfied.
For me, the clause equivalent is causal, but the subject (the students) should be in it, not in the main clause: Because the students had understood what the teacher said, they
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Thank you very much for your clear and detailed answer, CalifJim.
I've really learned a lot.
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Thank you very much, Cool Breeze.
I hadn't noticed the problem before you pointed it out. I'll bear it in mind.
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