068 : -ing clauses (He hurt his knee playing football.)

   A   

Study these situations:

 

Joe was playing football. He hurt his knee.
You can say: Joe hurt his knee playing football.

 

You were feeling tired. So you went to bed early.
You can say: Feeling tired, I went to bed early.

 

'Playing football' and 'feeling tired' are -ing clauses.
If the -ing clause is at the beginning of the sentence (as in the second example), we write a comma (,) after it.

 

 

   B   

When two things happen at the same time, you can use an -ing clause:

• Kate is in the kitchen making coffee. (= she is in the kitchen and  she is making coffee)
• 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:

• Joe hurt his knee playing football. (= while he was playing)
• Did you cut yourself shaving? (= while you were shaving)

You can also use -ing after while or when:

• Joe hurt his knee while playing football.
• Be careful when crossing the road. (= when you are crossing)

 

 

   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.

 

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.

 

 

   D   

You can use an -ing clause to explain something, or to say why somebody does something.

 

The -ing clause usually comes at the beginning of the sentence:

• Feeling tired, I went to bed early. (= because I felt tired)
• Being unemployed, he doesn't have much money. (= because he is unemployed)
• Not having a car, she finds it difficult to get around. (= because she doesn't have a car)

 

Use having (done) for something that happened before something else:

• Having already seen the film twice, I didn't want to see it again. (= because I had already seen it twice)

 

These structures are used more in written English than in spoken English.