-ing clauses
• Jim hurt his arm playing tennis. Playing tennis - ing clause Jim hurt himself - main clause • Feeling tired, I went to bed early. Feeling tired - ing clause I went to bed early - main clause "Playing tennis" and "feeling tired" are -ing clauses. If the -ing clause is first (as in the second example), we write a comma (,) between the clauses. When two things happen at the same time, you can use -ing for one of the verbs. The main clause usually comes first: • I've just seen Carol. She's in the bar having a drink. (= she is in the bar and she is having a drink) • A man ran out of the house shouting. (= he ran out of the house and he was shouting) • Do something! Don't just stand there doing nothing! We also use -ing when one action happens during another action. We use -ing for the longer action. The longer action is the second part of the sentence: • Jim hurt his arm playing tennis. (= while he was playing) • Did you cut yourself shaving? (= while you were shaving) You can also use -ing after while or when: • Jim hurt his arm while playing tennis. • Be careful when crossing the road. (= when you are crossing) When one action happens before another action, we use having (done) for the first action: • Having found a hotel, we looked for somewhere to have dinner. • Having finished her work, she went home. You can also say after -ing: • After finishing her work, she went home. If one short action follows another short action, you can use the simple -ing form (doing instead of having done) for the first action: • Taking a key out of his pocket, he opened the door. These structures are used more in written English than in spoken English. You can use an -ing clause to explain something or to say why somebody does something. The -ing clause usually comes first: • Having already seen the film twice, I didn't want to go to the cinema. (= because I had already seen it twice) • Feeling tired, I went to bed early. (= because I felt tired) • Being unemployed, he hasn't got much money. (= because he is unemployed) • Not having a car, she finds it difficult to get around. (= because she doesn't have a car) These structures are used more in written English than in spoken English. | |
| Category: Problem Points | Added by: Teacher_Koce (2014-12-17) | |
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