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Hktrader Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Which tense is used in this sentence?

I read a sentence from a newspaper: " Engineers working on some projects have complained of problems with contractors using inferior materials."
I have 2 questions to this sentence:

Q1)at the very beginning, Engineers working....... there is no verb-to-be(is/am/are) before working, what is the tense using here?

Q2) using inferior materials. the verb "use" is added "ing", can anyone tell me the reason?
Thanks alot
  

Top answer

Hello, hktrader—and welcome to English Forums. 1-- 'Working on some projects' is a nonfinite (participial) clause acting as a modifier of 'engineers'. Non-finite verbs have no tense.

— Mister Micawber

  • Hello, hktrader—and welcome to English Forums.
  • 1-- 'Working on some projects' is a nonfinite (participial) clause acting as a modifier of 'engineers'.
  • Non-finite verbs have no tense.
  • 2-- 'Using inferior materials' is also a non-finite (participial) clause acting as a modifier of 'contractors'.
  • Both clauses can be viewed as alternatives to these full subordinate clauses: Engineers [who have been / are] working on some projects have complained of problems with contractors [who have been / are] using inferior materials.
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2 Answers
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Hello, hktrader—and welcome to English Forums.

1-- 'Working on some projects' is a nonfinite (participial) clause acting as a modifier of 'engineers'. Non-finite verbs have no tense.
2-- 'Using inferior materials' is also a non-finite (participial) clause acting as a modifier of 'contractors'.

Both clauses can be viewed as alternatives to these full subordinate clauses:
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