I’m in trouble to compare the following two sentences in view of flow. The first one uses negative present participle (which is my favorite): all subsystems not belonging to the currently-active configuration should have been deactivated. But I’m wondering whether this sentence sounds awkward or not. The second one is the same sentence rewritten with … Read more
In literature (particularly fiction), there will often be examples of supplementary adjectives and absolute constructions in which a participle isn’t present. My question boils down to how we analyse such passages. My instinct tells me that the present participle ‘being’ has been omitted; however, it has been difficult to find sufficient evidence that supports my … Read more
I was wondering whether these sentences are grammatically correct and whether they mean the same thing. There are no workers who are using these tools right now. There are no workers using these tools right now. There are no workers who use these tools. Can present participle be used like this (in the second sentence)? … Read more
Gerunds and present participles happen to look exactly the same in English, the first acting as a noun and the second as either an adjective, a verb denoting continuous action, or introducing a participle clause. When adding a descriptive word to them, should gerunds get adjectives and participles adverbs, even though they’re both created from … Read more
I would like to know when the causative with have/get + object + present participle can be used and when it can’t. In this answer I found this example: He had us dancing/dance on the table ~ He got us dancing/to dance on the table. I had him see his advisor about that ~ I … Read more
I wonder if this expression can be correctly formulated and completed using the present participle pacifying of the verb to pacifiy as an adjective at least, instead of pacifist. He/she is a pacifying person. This is what pacifying tends to do: tending to calm the emotions and relieve stress. Answer Yes, you can use it … Read more
I’ve been studying Latin by myself as a kid in middle school, and I’ve gotten fairly advanced with it. However, in Latin and most other languages, the present participle is/was almost never used in the place of an active. In English, this isn’t the case. For some reason, it’s considerably more common to announce “I’m … Read more
From Wikipedia on principal parts: In language learning, the principal parts of a verb are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate the verb through all its forms. […] The principal parts of an English verb are the infinitive, preterite and past participle. In English, the present participle … Read more
Given the statement Click this button to display your presentation and Clicking this button displays your presentation. I assume both the words display and displays are verbs but what is the name of one verb and what is the name of the other? Display sounds like a commanding verb. Displays sounds like an descriptive verb. … Read more
Which is correct: I am excited to see these guys growing up. or I am excited to see these guys grow up. Having hard time figuring out how to use gerunds in a sentence. Answer They’re both acceptable, and largely interchangeable. In this case, there’s a slight difference of emphasis in that growing up shows … Read more
