Are these sentences correct?

Question

Are these sentences correct?1) It stopped raining.2) It has started to stop raining (The rain becomes weaker and weaker...)3) It had stopped to rain.4) It had stopped raining.5) It was stopping raining.6) He looked outside the window pointing out, that the rain was getting weaker.7) He looking outside the window pointed out, that the rain was getting weaker.Could you tell me, whether they are correct or not, and why?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymouscorrect or not

1) It stopped raining. OK
2) It has started to stop raining (The rain becomes weaker and weaker...) OK, but strange to say.
3) It had stopped to rain. NO
4) It had stopped raining. OK
5) It was stopping raining. Grammatical, but strange to say.
6) He looked outside the window pointing out, that the rain was getting weaker. [No comma!] OK, but not quite idiomatic.
7) He looking outside the window pointed out, that the rain was getting weaker. NO.
____________

2) It has started to stop raining (The rain becomes weaker and weaker...) OK, but strange to say.
Here's the way we say it: The rain is letting up. The rain is starting to let up.
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3) It had stopped to rain. NO
When you "stop to do something", you stop what you are doing so that you can do something else.
Halfway through our trip we stopped to have something to eat.

The weather doesn't stop what it is doing for the purpose of doing something else!
You need It had stopped raining.

stop is a verb that changes meaning depending whether the following verb is with 'to' or with '-ing'.
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5) It was stopping raining. Grammatical, but strange to say.
The rain was letting up.
___

6) He looked outside the window pointing out, that the rain was getting weaker. [No comma!] OK, but not quite idiomatic.
7) He looking outside the window pointed out, that the rain was getting weaker. NO.

Looking out the window, he [noticed / saw / noted] that the rain was letting up.
With "noted" you have speech; not with the other two.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you very much!

I have a few questions regarding sentence 6 and 7:
Why is 6 correct and 7 not?
I thought you could connect sentences with participles, like:

"The boy eating the cheese went outside"
"The boy went outside eating the cheese"

I used the same grammar structures for 6/7, but I'm quite sure that these sentences are correct (the boy eating, the boy went...) So why not 6 and 7?

Thank you in advance!

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI thought you could connect sentences with participles, like:"The boy eating the cheese went outside""The boy went outside eating the cheese"

Yes. Those are OK.

AnonymousWhy is 6 correct and 7 not?

Pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they) specify exactly who we are talking about. Therefore they take no modifiers to specify in greater detail who they are. This is the role of a participle clause after a noun.

The boy eating the cheese went outside. OK. "eating the cheese" says which boy we mean. It's the boy eating the cheese; it's not some other boy.
He eating the cheese went outside. NO. "He" already specifies exactly (from previous context) who we are talking about, so "eating the cheese" is anomalous as a modifier.

The same is true of any unique person or thing. It makes no sense to add a modifier to specify which one when there is only one. For example, we don't say "Albert Einstein eating the cheese went outside". That sounds like there are several Albert Einsteins and we want to draw attention to the one of these several who is eating the cheese!

However, when we put the participle clause first, it suggests that something is happening at the same time as the action expressed by the main clause: Eating the cheese, Einstein went outside. ~ Einstein went outside; at the time he went outside he was eating the cheese. In this case we are not trying to specify which of several Einsteins we are talking about.

Strange, but true. This is how English works.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimEating the cheese, Einstein went outside

Is "Eating the cheese" a hanging participle in the above?

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you! You are my hero! I would have never unstood that without your help!

If you had time, could you answer the question, I had previously posted here, maybe too?
There are two main subjects I dont understand: If-sentences (I hope the sentence above is correct) and the correct use of participles. This was the question:

"Which tenses can you replace with present or past participles?
I've read that you use the present participle, to say that both things were done at the same time. Is that the same for the past participle?
I remember that one grammar text said, that past/present participles always imitate the same tense from the main clause.
And if you want to say, that something was done before, you have to use the perfect participle:

_At the same time (main and participle/relative clause)_
active: present participle
passive: past participle

Done before
active: having + past participle
passive: having been + past participle

So the following example sentences schould be correct, right?
- Having unterstood the problem, I helped him. (I first understood, than I helped)
- Understanding the problem, I'am helping him (I am understanding the problem right now and help him instantly)
- Given an apple, he was very happy (He was very happy right after someone gave him an apple)
- Having looked at the pancakes, I will eat them. (I have looked at them and decide now in the present, that I will eat them)

Are these sentences correct?
Looking at the pancakes, I will eat them
Loving this girl, my jealousy had killed me."

Thank you (Isn't it torture to read so many wrong sentences a day and then correct them?

)

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIs "Eating the cheese" a hanging participle in the above?

No, because Einstein was eating the cheese and Einstein went outside. Same subject. This kind of construction only causes problems when the two subjects are different, as in Looking through the microscope, the butterfly was beautiful. It could hardly be the butterfly that was looking through the microscope. Most likely someone was looking through the microscope and the butterfly was beautiful. Different subjects. Problem.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousWhich tenses can you replace with present or past participles?

Participles are non-finite verb forms. Therefore, like infinitives, they have no tense.

Present participles are active participles. 'Present' does not mean "present tense".
Past participles passive participles. 'Past' does not mean "past tense"

Anonymouspast/present participles always imitate the same tense from the main clause.And if you want to say, that something was done before, you have to use the perfect participle

Yes. This is correct. Since the participles have no tense of their own, they take their tense from the main clause that they are associated with. If you want to emphasize that the action in the participle clause occurred before the action in the main clause, you can use the participles with 'having'. Those with 'having' are much less used.

Having understood the problem, I am helping him.
Main clause: present time. Participle clause: before present time.

Having understood the problem, I helped him.
Main clause: past time. Participle clause: before past time.

Looking at the pancakes, I am getting very hungry.
Main clause: present time. Participle clause: the same as present time.

Looking at the pancakes, I got very hungry.
Main clause: past time. Participle clause: the same as past time.
_______

Note that common sense tells us that you look at the pancakes first and then that makes you get hungry, so there is absolutely no need to use "Having looked at the pancakes". It is far too obvious to emphasize it.

AnonymousLoving this girl, my jealousy had killed me.

Here's a bad one! The implicit subject an initial participle clause is the same as the subject of the main clause. Therefore, this sentence says that your jealousy killed you AND your jealousyloved this girl (not that you loved her).

AnonymousIsn't it torture to read so many wrong sentences a day and then correct them?

Some days are better than others.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for clarifying!
Just for completeness:

Could you connect a present or past participle, with a future tense?

"Looking at the pancakes, I will eat them." (<- I guess that can't be right, cause it implies that looking is in "will"-future too, which can't be.)
So it has to be:
"Having looked at the pancakes, I will eat them."

One final question:
Do participles ALWAYS imitate the tense from the main clause or could they imitate every time that also could make sense? Like "Robbing the car, I left the parking slot" (<- The Robbing was obviously before the leaving)

Thank you!

PS: What do you recommend to learn english properly? I have to say that I always get stuck with looking up in grammar books... :/

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousCould you connect a present or past participle, with a future tense?"Looking at the pancakes, I will eat them."

Yes. That's OK. In English the future is a modal construction, so the only true tenses we have are past and non-past.

AnonymousSo it has to be:"Having looked at the pancakes, I will eat them."

That's OK too, but not necessary. It leaves the impression of very formal style when you use these "having" clauses when they aren't really necessary. Save them for your conversation with the Queen of England — if she's interested in talking about pancakes, anyway.

AnonymousDo participles ALWAYS imitate the tense from the main clause

I'd say "take their tense from", not "imitate the tense from".

AnonymousThe robbing was obviously before the leaving

Yes. As I said, common sense has to prevail, so it's OK to write "Robbing ..., I left ...". "Having robbed ..." is also OK of course.

AnonymousI always get stuck with looking things up in grammar books.

After a while you start remembering what you look up, so it gets better. Do a lot of reading if you can. That sometimes helps get the rhythm and style of the language into your brain. You'll notice things that stand out because they are different from how you say them in your own language. Write down those things and ask about them if you can't find an explanation in your grammar books.

CJ

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