Do participial clauses have to take on aspect as well as tense from the main clause?

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Question: Does a participial clause have to assimilate the aspect (as well as the tense) from the main clause?Here is an example:"Unable to find the answer on the website, I have reverted to asking here, hoping someone will know."If I rewrite the sentence, by creating a compound predicate, I believe it makes more sense if the verb hope is present simple, and not present perfect:"Unable to find the answer on the website, I have reverted to asking here and hope someone will know."Thanks for your answer

Ed_shaw · Accepted Answer

Both sentences are fine. With respect to the second, there is no need for parallel construction as concerns the tenses. There is nothing wrong with 'I have reverted to asking here and have been hoping someone will know,' but it is not as good as your own sentence.  Of all, I rate the first sentence, the blue one,  as the best.

CalifJim · Answer

English 1b3 Does a participial clause have to assimilate the aspect (as well as the tense) from the main clause?

No. Neither. The participial clause has no tense. It's a non-finite clause. It's only when you rephrase it as a finite clause that you need a tense. Generally speaking the tense of the paraphrase is at least in the same category of tenses, either present or past.

Present perfect, present, and tenses with will are in the "present category".
Past perfect, past, and tenses with would are in the "past category".

CJ

English 1b3 · Answer

CalifJim
English 1b3 Does a participial clause have to assimilate the aspect (as well as the tense) from the main clause?
No. Neither. The participial clause has no tense. It's a non-finite clause. It's only when you rephrase it as a finite clause that you need a tense. Generally speaking the tense of the paraphrase is at least in the same category of tenses, either present or past.

Present perfect, present, and tenses with will are in the "present category".

Past perfect, past, and tenses with would are in the "past category".

CJ

I know that it doesn't have a tense. It uses the tense of the verb in the main clause; that is, if the main clause is present tense, then the non-finite clause is in relation to the present.

Walking along the corridor, I see..

Walking along the corridor, I saw

So if they use the same tense as the verb in the main clause, do they have to use the aspect also (if assuming an aspect exists)?

CalifJim · Answer

English 1b3I know that it doesn't have a tense. It uses the tense of the verb in the main clause; that is, if the main clause is present tense, then the non-finite clause is in relation to the present.

It doesn't use the tense of the verb in the main clause. I know what you mean, but you're saying it wrong, and it's confusing. If it doesn't have a tense, and you say you know it doesn't, then it can't use a tense. Only its paraphrase can have a tense.

Paraphrase of 1: As I am walking along the corridor, I see ...
Paraphrase of 2: As I was walking along the corridor, I saw ...

Another way of saying it is that the participial has only an implied tense, and that implied tense is derived from the tense of the verb in the main clause.

English 1b3So if they use the same tense as the verb in the main clause, do they have to use the aspect also (if assuming an aspect exists)?

All verbs in a main clause have an aspect, even if the aspect is just "simple". The aspect of a paraphrase of a participial construction need not match the aspect of the main verb, as you can see by my paraphrases above, where the main verbs have simple aspect and the paraphrases have progressive aspect.

CJ

Do participial clauses have to take on aspect as well as tense from the main clause?

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