Participial clause

Question

Hi,"being" in participial clauses can denote one of the following things:1. linking verb "be"ex) Being disgusted his betrayal, she went back to Paris.2. passive "be"ex) The house is invisible from the road, being surrounded by trees.3. progressive "be"(?)ex) Being* helped, ~  (Because I am being helped,~)* I'm a little confused here.  Since "being being helped" is not allowed, only one of the "being" should be used, but the question is which "being" is it?  Passive "be" or progressive "be"?  Is it okay to drop "being" in either of the above examples?What are the conditions for the omission of "being" in participial constructions?I'd appreciate your help.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

1. "Being disgusted his betrayal, she went back to Paris." is ungrammatical. It should be "Being disgusted by his betrayal..." Thus 1. has the same structure as 2. The "being" can be dropped in this sentence: "Disgusted by his betrayal, she..."

2. "Being" can be dropped here, provided you rearrange the sentence: "Surrounded by trees, the house is invisible from the road."

3. You can drop the "being" here: "Because I am helped,....". However, the resulting sentence sounds old-fashioned, like 19th century English.

The construction, "being being helped" is rather awkward, but possible in English. For example: "This is my reason for being, being helped by my fellow man." "This picture shows a human being being helped by an ape."

Dimsumexpress · Answer

jooney1. linking verb "be"ex) Being disgusted [ by] his betrayal, she went back to Paris.

Correct as revised. As mentioned before, "present participle phrase is non-finite, So I can also say "being disgusted by his betrayal, she has decided to call off the wedding."

jooney The house is invisible from the road, being surrounded by trees.

This sounds awkward. But with a little revision, it is ok: Being surrounded by trees, the house was hardly visible from the road. The reduced form of this phrase is possible without "being": "Surrounded by trees...the house was hardly visible from the road.." and still the meaning is unchanged. However, the construction did.

jooney* I'm a little confused here. Since "being being helped" is not allowed, only one of the "being" should be used, but the question is which "being" is it? Passive "be" or progressive "be"?

It is a present passive participle construction: i.e. Reporter: The lost hikers are being recused at this moment as we bring you the update...

Being- also describes a state. John: I wish you were my girlfriend.
Mary: You are being silly. you are engaged.

I am not sure if my effort has helped you or not.

Jooney · Answer

Thank you guys for answering my questions. I'd like to say a few things.

1. The first example should have been written as follows:

Being disgusted at his betrayal, she went back to Paris.

Sorry, I omitted "at" by mistake. Here, the word "disgusted" is an adjective.

2. As for example 2, if you don't arrange the sentence as Anon did, you can't omit "being" in that sentence? May I ask why that is so?

3. Being helped,~

A close counterpart of this participial clause would be something like the following:

(Because/while etc) I am being helped,~

progressive "be" I am playing baseball.

passive "be": She was taken to a nearby hospital.

So in "I am being helped", the "am" represents progressive "be" whereas the "being" expresses passive "be".

My question is which "being" in "Being helped, ~" refers to. I guess it's passive "be". Right?

Anonymous · Answer

2. In the original sentence, "The house is invisible from the road, being surrounded by trees.", it is clear that "being surrounded by trees" modifies "house." If you omit "being" without rearranging the sentence, "The house is invisible from the road, surrounded by trees.", it is no longer clear what "surrounded by trees" modifies - it could be the house or the road.

3. In English, the present can mean any of the following: He helps. He does help. He is helping. The passive versions of these are, respectively: I am helped by him. There is no passive form for "He does help.". I am being helped by him.

Jooney · Answer

Thank you for your answers, Anonymous. I have some questions about your answers.

2. If you omit "being" without rearranging the sentence, "The house is invisible from the road, surrounded by trees.", it is no longer clear what "surrounded by trees" modifies - it could be the house or the road.

Q1) So is it safe to say that "being" cannot be omitted when a participial construction is placed at the end of the sentence?

Q2) What about sentence-initial participial clauses? In that case, you can always omit "being"?

3. Let me rephrase the question. If you were to convert the following sentence into a participial counterpart, how would you do it?

I am being helped (by someone), so ~

ex1) Being helped, ~ (?)

ex2) Being being helped, ~ (?) I don't think this type of construction is possible, though.

Q3) Which one is your choice?

Dimsumexpress · Answer

jooney2. If you omit "being" without rearranging the sentence, "The house is invisible from the road, surrounded by trees.", it is no longer clear what "surrounded by trees" modifies - it could be the house or the road.

That's why I moved the adverbial to the front of the sentence. It sounded really strange as you had it.

jooney3. Let me rephrase the question. If you were to convert the following sentence into a participial counterpart, how would you do it?I am being helped (by someone), so ~ex1) Being helped, ~ (?)ex2) Being being helped, ~ (?) I don't think this type of construction is possible, though.

Disgusted "at" is wrong and unidiomatic. "By" is correct.

jooney3. Let me rephrase the question. If you were to convert the following sentence into a participial counterpart, how would you do it?I am being helped (by someone), so ~ex1) Being helped, ~ (?)ex2) Being being helped, ~ (?) I don't think this type of construction is possible, though.

If you still want to keep searching for a counter-part equivalent of certain present participle phrases, I am afraid you may be disappointed. It is nearly impossible to formulate the use of present participle in to a blank-and-white explanation, which seems to be your mission.

Jooney · Answer

Disgusted "at" is wrong and unidiomatic. "By" is correct.

It was taken directly from a grammar book written by a native speaker. Well, actually, the example in my grammar book does not have "being" in front of the sentence. Nonetheless, that is irrelevant as to whether "at" is the right preposition or not.

If you still want to keep searching for a counter-part equivalent of certain present participle phrases, I am afraid you may be disappointed.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're trying to say. So you don't think there is no participial counterpart for "I'm being helped"?

Dimsumexpress · Answer

jooney So you don't think there is no participial counterpart for "I'm being helped"?

I would like to see anyone taking a crack at it. That said, we can't just talk about a participle phrase without a semantic reference.

Anonymous · Answer

There are situations where an -ing form at the end of a sentence can be omitted:

The house is invisible from the road, being a small house built in a hollow.

The house is invisible from the road, a small house built in a hollow. This is okay.

There are situations where an -ing form at the beginning of a sentence can't be omitted:

Being in a hollow, the house is invisible from the road.

In a hollow, the house is invisible from the road. This sentence is not acceptable. Here it is not clear what "in a hollow" modifies - it could modify house, road, or invisible.

"I am being helped by my neighbor, so I don't need to hire anyone." can be converted to an -ing construction:

"Being helped by my neighbor enabled me to avoid having to hire someone."

A "being being" construction is apparently possible, although very awkward-sounding:

"Between being being helped and being not being helped, I was being being driven to distraction."

Jooney · Answer

Thank you very much for your answers, Anonymous.

I have one final question.

"Being helped by my neighbor enabled me to avoid having to here someone."

Isn't it true that the underlined can mean either "I was being helped" or "I was helped"? The distinction is lost when it's converted into an -ing form. Right? Then, how do you know which meaning it refers to?

Participial clause

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