-ing Clauses
A clause is a part of a sentence. Some sentences have two or more clauses. E use -ing clauses when:
-2 actions are/were performed by the same person or thing.
Brian is in the living room watching television.
(He is in the living room and he is watching television.)
(He is in the living room and he is watching television.)
He left the theater laughing.
(He was laughing as he left the theater)
(He was laughing as he left the theater)
-We also use +ING when one action happens during another action. We use +ING for the longer action:He broke his leg skiing.
Jim hurt his leg playing tennisDo you eat breakfast standing up?
You can also use +ING after WHEN or WHILE:
He broke his leg while skiing.
Be careful when cutting vegetables.
Consecutive events
When one action happens before another action, we use HAVING + Past Participle for the fist action:
Having found a job, Matias celebrated with his wife to be.
Having finished the book, she turned off the light and went to sleep.
Note: You can also use AFTER Verb+ING, (se entiende como habiendo) .
 |
| studying hard, she passed her test. |
After finishing her dinner, she had a shower.
If one short action follows another short action, you can use the simple +ING form for the first action:
Putting on his shoes, Mark opened the front door.
You can also use an +ING clause to explain something, or to say why somebody does something.
The +ING normally comes at the beginning of the sentence:
Being disabled, she finds it hard to get around.
(because she is disabled)
Living by the beach, she constantly has a tan.
(because she lives by the beach)
Having already tried paragliding, he wasn’t scared to do it again.
(because he had already tried it)
Not having jobs, they can’t afford holidays.
(because they don’t have jobs)
Note: If the -ing clause is first (as in the second example), we write a comma (,) between the clauses.
As you can see, -ing clauses are very common, and whe you use them you need to interpret them.
Remember:
" El Inglés, tú y yo podemos ser amigos".
