Having done something . . .

Question

Could someone please help me with the construction in the first part of these sentences?

Having finished his homework, he went to bed.

Having been delayed by heavy traffic, she was late for work.

Some students asked me to explain when and how to use this construction ‘having + past participle’ etc.

Does it have a name? I remember it from studying Latin a long time ago, but cannot think what it is called.

Many thanks,

Graham

PS - this is my first post. If it is in the wrong forum - apologies.

Exodejavu · Accepted Answer

Hi,

That is the reduced form of past perfect tense.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Welcome to EF, Graham. Your post is in the right forum. I think some native speakers call your structure a reduced temporal clause. I have called it a temporal clause equivalent ever since I was taught English clause equivalents at school at the age of 15. That's what they are called in this part of the world. Terminology varies from place to place.

The subject of the participle must be the same as that of the main clause. There are usually three alternatives:

After finishing his homework, he went to bed.

Having finished his homework, he went to bed.

After having finished his homework, he went to bed.

(= After he had finished his homework, he went to bed.)

CB

Anonymous · Answer

Many thanks, exo

Velimir · Answer

Hello everyone,
Graham I'm not a native speaker but I've flipped through many grammars and I can help you with the terminology used in grammars for such constructions as in the sentences you've posted :
"Having finished his homework, he went to bed"
This sentence is a complex sentence."Having finished his homework" is an element in the structure of this sentence functionally being an adverbial or more specifically, an adverbial of time. By its form its a non-finite clause since the main verb - "having" is not marked with tense or aspect i.e it is a non-finite verb. Non-finite form of the clause can be replaced with a finite clause like:
"After he finished his homework he went to bed"

The function of "After he finished his homework" is the same as with a non-finite counterpart of course- it is an adverbial.

Best regards

Graham Falvey · Answer

Many thanks to all who have given of their expertise to answer this question.

Graham

Velimir · Answer

You're welcome Graham <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Anonymous · Answer

When -ing forms are used in certain ways, they are called present participles, not suitable names as they can be used to talk about the past, present, or future. Present and past participles cn be put together to make progressive and perfect forms as in having arrived.
Taken from Michael Swan's Practical English Usage

Anonymous · Answer

It's called gerund perfect. Tell your students that this structure is similar to past perfect and combines with past tense when using it such as in "Having finished his homework, he went to bed". Explain the time sequence of the events as well.(First he finished his homework, then he went to bed.) A few languages do not have this construction at all, therefore it is difficult for some of the students to see what happens first in a sentence like this. (We don't have this structure in Hungarian either. )
Hope this helps,
Zsolt

Anonymous · Answer

Hi there,
Greetings from Poland.

We, on the other hand, do have a construct that seems to be an precise equivalent of its English counterpart, we call it: Imieslów przyslówkowy uprzedni - literally "adverbial prior/anterior participle".

Having finished his homework, he went to bed - Skonczywszy [having finished] swoja [his] praca domowa [homework], (on) [he - a conjectural subject] poszedl do lózka [went to bed].

Thought I would share this with you. Best regards.

Grammarfreak · Answer

Anonymous"Having finished his homework, he went to bed".

This is my two cents on the topic.
If we put this sentence under a grammatical comb, it is incorrect in my opinion..
First of all, without the "perfect gerund" construction, this type of phrase (some called clause) is commonly known as participle clause which functions as an adverbial modifier to the main clause. It is also termed "reduced clause" which by itself is non temporal unless it is tagged with a time marker. e.g.
Having problem starting her car, Mary was late for work yesterday Having problem - is non-temporal, but relative to " last night " and the verb " was " made the sentence past tense.

Whenever having problem with my car, I usually call my best friend Mike. The general present context in this sentence makes the participle phrase "present".

On the other hand, perfect gerund construction is a bit more complicated. To make the above sentence correct, I believe it needs to be changed to: Having had finished his homework, he went to bed. The reason is because "went" to bed is "past. "Having finished " suggests relative present which is conflicting. Generally speaking, if we can convey the meaning without having to use the "perfect gerund " construction, leave it alone. But that's just my opinion.

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