Present participles or gerunds
I know the difference between present participles and gerunds, but suddenly, I got confused with some examples, including after, before, etc, which are not only conjunctions but also prepositions.
After watching TV, I went to bed.
Before leaving the room, turn off the lights.
Here, in the examples, are watching and leaving present participles like While watching TV or gerunds like on watching TV?
What do you native English speakers think?
Thank you so much as usual in advance.
Top answer
After watching TV , I went to bed. Before leaving the room , turn off the lights. “After” and “before” are best analysed as prepositions, thus the underlined elements are preposition phrases, each with a prep as head and an ing clause as its complement.
- After watching TV , I went to bed.
- Before leaving the room , turn off the lights.
- “After” and “before” are best analysed as prepositions, thus the underlined elements are preposition phrases, each with a prep as head and an ing clause as its complement.
- Clauses like these are traditionally classified as gerunds (as opposed to present participles) on the grounds that they are functioning as complement of a preposition and thus could be replaced by a noun.
- Modern grammar, however, simply calls both - ing forms ‘gerund-participles’ and the clauses they head ‘gerund-participials’.
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After watching TV, I went to bed.
Before leaving the room, turn off the lights.
“After” and “before” are best analysed as prepositions, thus the underlined elements are preposition phrases, each with a prep as head and an ing clause as its complement.
Clauses like these are traditionally classified as gerunds (as
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