Having taken/Taking: Adjectives and Participles

It is subtle. In the first sentence, he picked up his gun before he went out; in the second, he picked it up and left at the same time. In practice, the meanings are the same and the first sentence is unnecessarily wordy.

Thanks, Micawber.

I have another question. The sentence reads: 'Caesar being murdered, the dictatorship came to an end.' Now does this imply that as Caesar was being murdered, the dictatorship came to an end? I mean, does it emphasize that during the time when the murder took place, the dictatorship came to an end? If it was phrased such as follows: Caesar having been murdered, the

Exactly as you described. Ceaser being murders means the other thing happened WHILE he was murdered. Therefore "Ceasar having been murdered" makes more sense to me here.

People don't tend to use any of these constructions very much in normal conversation though....

Oh, thanks a lot. I could not thank you more. You have saved my day.

kalpabI have another question. The sentence reads: 'Caesar being murdered, the dictatorship came to an end.' Now does this imply that as Caesar was being murdered, the dictatorship came to an end? I mean, does it emphasize that during the time when the murder took place, the dictatorship came to an end? If it was phrased such as follows: Caesar having been murdered, the d

I don't get it. Is what Noctivagus said right or wrong? Thanks.

kalpabI don't get it. Is what Noctivagus said right or wrong?

I disagree with his interpretation of the sentence about Caesar and think that both versions — with "being murdered" and with "having been murdered" — are correct, have almost the same meaning and differ only in the grammar structure used, i.e adjective vs. noun.

Anton

well this construction is an English equivalent to the Latin "ablative absolute", which also clearly distignuishes between a completed action, and a present continuous action, by using either the past or present partciples, equivalent again to English "being" or "having been".

It is a relatively uncommon usage, as native speakers will tend to say "After Ceaser had been murdered" or ,theo

Thanks, Anton and Noctivagus. I have got it now.

NoctivagusIt is a little like those optical illusions, where you have a cube that you can either see into or from the outside depending on how you "focus" your eyes on it.

I couldn't put it better!

Anton