How do you explain?

Hi,

Having sung an hymn, they went out. Could someone please tell me about this participial phrase?

How do you describe the tense implications of "having"? It has the feeling of past perfect tense, but it's obviously not

It's a Perfect Participle. As with the Perfect tenses, it conveys the idea that an earlier event/activity has importance at a lat

My try:

Having sung an hymn, they went out.

The sentence is from "After they had sung a hymn, they went out."
The event in the clause with the past perfect tense happens earlier than that with the past tense.

"Having sung a hymn, they went out"
"Having" play an important role in suggesting the temporal order of the two events.

Thanks, Clive.

Is the perfect participle "Having," or "Having sung"?

Do we also use the expression "perfect participial phrase"?

If only the word "having" constitutes the perfect participle, are there others as well?

Rgdz, - A.

Hi Avangi

I'm a foreigner and therefore I see nothign exceptional in the sentence. Well, I would prefer to to say a hymn, but I do know than an is also used. When I was 15 years old, my English teacher taught me what he called 'clause equivalents', and your sentence fits his formula very well.

[After] having sung a hymn, they went out. = After singing a hy

Thanks, exo.

Hi,
Is the perfect participle "Having," or "Having sung"? Having sung

Do we also use the expression "perfect participial phrase"? Dunno. I don't see why you couldn't say that if you wanted to.

If only the word "having" constitutes the perfect participle, are there others as well?

Lots. Almost endless numbers.
Having sung, having cooked, having said, havin

Cool Breeze 'Having sung has been formed from the perfect infinitive

Hi, CB. Could you please give me a step-by-step on this? Thanks. - A.

Avangi

Cool Breeze 'Having sung has been formed from the perfect infinitive

Hi, CB. Could you please give me a step-by-step on this? Thanks. - A.

Present active infinitive: (to) sing. Present active participle: singing.

Perfect active infinitive: (to) have sung. Perfect active participle: hav

If only the word "having" constitutes the perfect participle, are there others as well?

Clive Lots. Almost endless numbers.

I knew that was bad when I wrote it, but I couldn't see the way out.

Many thanks.

Cool Breeze There are different terms, and I often have no idea what native speakers are talking about when I read their posts!

Don't be shy about using the reply button.
BTW, I think the email notification is a work in progress.

Thanks for the help. My fear is that "having sung a few hymns" will just get lumped in as a participial phrase by v