NON FINITE CLAUSES (-ING CLAUSES)

A) A clause is part of a sentence. Some sentences have two or more clauses:

1- Tom hurt his arm playing tennis
2- Feeling tired, I went to bed early
“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.

B) When two things happen at the same time, you can use –ing for one of the verbs. The main clause
usually comes first.
1- I´ve just seen Carol. She is in the bar having a drink. (she is in the bar and she is having a drink)
2- A man ran out of the house shouting. (he ran out of the house and he was shouting)
We also use –ing clauses when one action happens during another action. We use –ing clause for the
longer action. The longer action is the second part of the sentence.
1- He hurt his arm playing tennis (=while he was playing tennis)
We can also use “while” or “when” + -ing clause:
a) Jim hurt his arm while playing tennis
b) Be careful when crossing the road (=when you are crossing)

Verb + ing
The action with the ing can be used to indicate that it takes place before, after or at the same time as the
action in the main clause. After, Before and While can appear before the ing to clarify the time
relationship.
Before John went to the store, he went to the bank: Before going to the store, John went to the bank
After he goes to the bank, he goes to the store: After going to the bank, he goes to the store.
While John was going to the store, he saw an accident: While going to the store, John saw an accident.

C) 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” (we can also use after + -ing: “After finishing
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.
  If the action described is relatively long compared with the one described in the main clause, we
use a clause beginning: having + past participle:
“Having driven five hours to the meeting, Don learnt that it had been postponed.” (= After Don had
driven for five hours, he learnt that the meeting had been postponed”.)

Passive Perfect Participle (page 311 Refining Composition Skills) Sometimes these clauses
can be further reduced by leaving off “having been” and starting the clause with the past
participle: they are called ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTIONS.
“Having been given the chance to reform, the young man robbed a bank anyway”= “Given the chance…”
(=After he was given the chance to reform, the young man robbed a bank anyway.)

D) You can use an –ing clause to explain something or to say why somebody does something. The –ing
clause usually comes first.: (clauses of reason)
 “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.
E) We use –ing clauses after verbs whose pattern admits –ing forms such as : admit, love, enjoy, hate etc.
1- I don´t mind your/you being upset
2- I like his/him staying in here.= I like Tom´s / Tom staying in here.
3- He doesn´t approve of her moving from the city.

-ING CLAUSES :
1- We use them instead of defining relative clauses.
“The man driving the bus is my brother” (or “The man who is driving the bus…”)

-ED CLAUSES AND BEING + PAST PARTICIPLE (-ED) CLAUSES.

1- We use them instead of a defining relative clause with a passive verb.
“The book published last week is his first writen for children “. (or : “the book which was published…”)
“The boys being chosen for the team are under 9” (or: “the boys who are being chosen…”)

We also use –ing clauses to replace adverbial clauses of result:

“My friends´father led a disolute life, so his children lived / live in poverty.”
My friends´father led a disolute life, his children having lived / living in poverty.”
Of course, we can include a subject in the –ing clause, if it isn´t the same as the one in the main
clause. We form the negative adding “not” before the participial clause.
“The car not having been repaired, Tom decided to go on foot”
We can introduce a subject using “with” when the clause expresses accompanying circumstances: “With
the tree being now tall, we have some shade”. (= Because there is/are ...)

Informal spoken English: “What with Philip snoring all night I didn´t sleep a wink” – “What with getting up
early and travelling all day, we were exhausted by the evening”.

ING clauses as Subjects:

Running down the hill is dangerous.
 With a subject:
Tom´s / His / Him running down the hall in the dorm disturbs us!.

We can reduce both defining and non defining relative clauses.

“The man giving the lecture is Mr. Brown”
“A city founded 100 years ago is quite young by European standards”

Mr. Brown, giving the lecture, paced back and forth.” (,who was giving the lecture,..)
“New York City, founded over 100 years ago, is one of the oldest”. (, which was founded...,)

Exercises: Part A
Join sentences: use –ing clauses.
Carol was in the bar She was feeling very tired
Emma was sitting in an armchair She looked at the sights and took photos
Sue got home late She said she would be back in an hour
Sarah went out She was reading a book
Linda was in London for 2 years. She was having a drink
Mary walked round the town. She worked as a tourist guide.

Exercises: Part B: Make one sentence from two using an –ing clause
1- Jim was playing tennis. He hurt his arm
2- I was watching TV. I fell asleep
3- The man slipped. He was getting off a bus.
4- I was walking home in the rain. I got wet.
5- Margaret was driving to work yesterday. She had an accident.
6- Two firemen were overcome by smoke. They were trying to put out the fire (put out = to extinguish)

Exercises: Part C Make sentences beginning “Having…”

1- She finished her work. Then she went home.
2- We bought our tickets. Then we went into the theatre.
3- They continued their journey after they´d had dinner.
4- After Lucy had done all her shopping, she went for a cup of coffee.

Exercises: Part D Make sentences beginning –ing or Not –ing (like those in section D) sometimes
begin with Having (done something)
1- I felt tired. So I went to bed early.
2- I thought they might be hungry. So I offered them something to eat.
3- I didn´t know his address. So I was not able to contact him
4- She is a foreigner. So she needs a visa to stay in this country.
5- Sarah has travelled a lot. So she knows a lot about other countries.
6- The man was not able to understand English. So he didn´t know what I wanted.
7- We had spent neaarly all our money. So we couldn´t afford to stay in a hotel.