I’ve seen both structures being used but I’m not sure if one is correct and the other not. Other examples: a killer virus or a killing virus, a killer machine or a killing machine? Are there guidelines or rules about when to use the forms noun-er + noun and participle + noun? Answer This is … Read more
The Vanishing Glass . . . . . . Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. “Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one … Read more
Why can we use waiting (present participle) with grew (past simple)? The children, waiting for the play to begin, grew bored. Sentence is from Participial Phrase Worksheet at Sinclair.edu. Answer The first part of the sentence does NOT mean: The children **are waiting** for the play to begin. Instead it should be understood as: While … Read more
In the following two sentences, there is -ing after while: While exploring the paths of program, we established a natural partitioning of paths on-the-fly based on program dependencies – such that only one path in a partition is explored. Any method which covers various possible behaviours of a given program while avoiding path enumeration, can … Read more
Which of the following is correct? I will update you once I reached my home. I will update you once I reach my home. I will update you after I reaching my home. Answer Among the three samples you have provided, the middle one is correct: I will update you once I reach my home. … Read more
Even though grammar books says ‘make’ don’t have present participle as its objective complement; this sentence “The potion makes the moths having fluttered and all dead” seems to be not ungrammatical. Because ‘having’ in this sentence is not a present participle but an auxiliary. Is the sentence grammatical or not? Answer It seems that this … Read more
My son is learning how to spell. He is doing a good job listening to sounds and working out spelling that way (which doesn’t work for many words, but at least a lot of common ones), but although he’s gotten the -ing chunk, he frequently misses doubling letters in these words. Is there a guideline … Read more
