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Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Participial clause
Hi,
ex1)
A: Having been singing all her life, she knows a ton of songs.(participial)
B: She has been singing all her life, so she knows a ton of songs.(basic)
Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"?
ex2) Developing nuclear weapons, Iran is becoming a source of international concern.
My grammar book says that participial clauses do not accept progressive "be". I guess what it means is the following:
take: is taking
took: was taking
taking: being taking(X)
But the sentence in question has a progressive meaning. You can readily see that if you convert it into a preposition phrase. For example,
As Iran is developing nuclear weapons, it is becoming a source of international concern.
Q2) So as long as you drop "being", you can have a progressive meaning embedded in the participial clause, correct?
Being Developing nuclear weapons, Iran is becoming a source of international concern.
I'd appreciate your help.
ex1)
A: Having been singing all her life, she knows a ton of songs.(participial)
B: She has been singing all her life, so she knows a ton of songs.(basic)
Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"?
ex2) Developing nuclear weapons, Iran is becoming a source of international concern.
My grammar book says that participial clauses do not accept progressive "be". I guess what it means is the following:
take: is taking
took: was taking
taking: being taking(X)
But the sentence in question has a progressive meaning. You can readily see that if you convert it into a preposition phrase. For example,
As Iran is developing nuclear weapons, it is becoming a source of international concern.
Q2) So as long as you drop "being", you can have a progressive meaning embedded in the participial clause, correct?
I'd appreciate your help.
Top answer
(basic)Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"? Yes and No. The yes: the core meaning is almost the same.
- (basic)Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"?
- Yes and No.
- The yes: the core meaning is almost the same.
- " is not quite syntactically smooth to the main clause "she knows a ton of songs" B -does a better job conveying the intended meaning.
- A - on the other hand, is not a present perf progressive, nor a clean present participle clause, in my opinion.
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13 Answers
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jooneyA: Having been singing all her life, she knows a ton of songs.(participial)B: She has been singing all her life, so she knows a ton of songs.(basic)Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"?Yes and No. The yes: the core meaning is almost the same.
The No: "Having been singing all her life..." is not quite syntactically smooth to the main clau
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Thank you for the reply, DE. I don't understand why my logic on the second example is wrong. I've been wrangling over this for the last couple of days, but haven't got a definitive answer. I'd like to hear some other opinions.
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jooneyA: Having been singing all her life, she knows a ton of songs.(participial)Yes. It's close enough. The participle clause supplies a reason for the information in the main clause.
B: She has been singing all her life, so she knows a ton of songs.(basic)
Q1) Is "A" a correct counterpart of of "B"?
Also, Since/As/Because
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Thank you very much for your answer, CJ. So you can't have a being+veb-ing combination, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have a participial clause that denotes a progressive aspect. Correct? For example,
A: Because I'm doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
B: Doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
I understan
A: Because I'm doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
B: Doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
I understan
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CJ's ears are the tuning fork of English. He said fine, that means my ears need some fine-tuning
.
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jooneySo you can't have a being+veb-ing combination, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have a participial clause that denotes a progressive aspect. Correct?Correct.
jooneyA: Because I'm doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
B: Doing my homework right now, I can't go shopping with you guys.
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Thank you very much for the help, CJ.
I think I can get a good night's sleep tonight.
I think I can get a good night's sleep tonight.00
CJ, I have a question.
ex)
A: Having turned off the TV, he went to the bed.
B: Turning off the TV, he went to the bed.
"The first of the two strikes me as literary and hypercorrect. In both cases the speaker means that he turned off the TV and went to bed. The time gap between the two events seems greater in the first sentence."
This is your expla
ex)
A: Having turned off the TV, he went to the bed.
B: Turning off the TV, he went to the bed.
"The first of the two strikes me as literary and hypercorrect. In both cases the speaker means that he turned off the TV and went to bed. The time gap between the two events seems greater in the first sentence."
This is your expla
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jooneyCould you explain what you meant by "literary and hypercorrect"?The turning off of the TV occurred before the going to bed, so to be really and truly "technically correct" you need 'having turned off'. But even with just 'turning off' everybody knows the order of events, so it's not necessary to be so exacting in the choice of words. This extreme prec
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CalifJimThe turning off of the TV occurred before the going to bed, so to be really and truly "technically correct" you need 'having turned off'. But even with just 'turning off' everybody knows the order of events, so it's not necessary to be so exacting in the choice of words.Hi CJ,You've done it again!
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