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In the past before the discovery of aeroplanes, people used to travel using hot air balloons. Although it was not a very safe option in the beginning, it was efficient means of transport. There were no roads or quickest means of travel for people so they took a risk of traversing in the air using this heated air vessel. Helium and hydrogen were used later on as an improvement to the earlier design. The structure was very aerodynamic and it works on the principle of displacement of air. Many kinds of materials were used in the beginning, such as paper, plastic and even animal skin. The discovery of hot air balloon was accidental as people were traditionally used to flying sky lantern. Nowadays, the technology is so advanced and it is still used in the remote areas where there are no roads built yet.  In the abovementioned text: Using was used without any preposition. Is it is common in English writing? What is it called in grammatical term to study more? What do you name its parts of speech?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Abbas RajabpourIn the above mentioned text: Using was used without any preposition. Is it is common in English writing? What is it called in grammatical term to study more? What do you name its parts of speech?

Yes, it's very common to use a present participle (-ing form of a verb) or, perhaps less often, even a past participle (-en/-ed form of a verb) in writing. They also occur in speech but less often. These are called non-finite forms, and they are used at the beginning of clauses that are called non-finite clauses, or more specifically, participle clauses. The participle itself is never accompanied by an auxiliary verb in a participle clause. If there is an auxiliary verb before the participle, it's a finite clause and it can't be a (non-finite) participle clause.

The most typical participle clauses are adverbial in nature and have an implicit subject which is the same as the subject in the main clause of the sentence. So, in effect, a participle clause creates a secondary predicate for the subject of the main clause. Also, because the verb of a participle clause has no auxiliary, the clause has no tense. It inherits its tense from the tense in the main clause.

So in the sentence

People used to travel using hot air balloons.

in a way, you have two predicates for "people" — used to travel and used to use hot air balloons. You might restate the sentence without the participle clause construction by saying People used to use hot air balloons to travel.

You can find a lot of articles online about participle clauses. Here's one:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/participle-clauses

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Abbas Rajabpourthe discovery of aeroplanes,

This does not make sense. Development or invention would be a better word.

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