The man preparing the documents

[chance22]

"The man preparing the documents is the firm's lawyer" has all the following possible meanings EXCEPT
A. the man who has prepared the documents...
B. the man who has been preparing the documents...
C. the man who is preparing the documents...
D. the man who will prepare the documents...

I'm not sure about the meaning of gerund in this place except that the third one is quite right. I'm wondering which two are also correct interpretationg and does this rule apply to all the gerund used to modify a noun?

Looking forward to your reply. Thanks a lot.

 

[Raymott]

"The man preparing the documents is the firm's lawyer" has all the following possible meanings EXCEPT
A. the man who has prepared the documents...
B. the man who has been preparing the documents...
C. the man who is preparing the documents...
D. the man who will prepare the documents...

I'm not sure about the meaning of [STRIKE]gerund[/STRIKE] present participle in this place except that the third one is quite right. I'm wondering which two are also correct interpretationg and does this rule apply to all the present participle used to modify a noun?
"Preparing" as it's used here is the present participle of "prepare". It's part of the verb. A gerund is a noun, with the same form.
Preparing the documents was done by the lawyer. Here it's a gerund, a part of the subject noun phrase.
What [thing] was done by the lawyer? Preparing the documents. Of course, you could also reply, "The preparation of the documents". They are both noun phrases.

Looking forward to your reply. Thanks a lot.

The initial sentence is occurring in the present. He is preparing the documents. So C is definitely right, as you say.
The present can be used with future meaning. This makes D right.
With B, there is the possibility that the preparation is still ongoing, whereas in A, this is not possible - it's been done.
This would suggest that the exception is A.

 

[chance22]

Thank Raymott for illustrating the difference between a gerund and a present participle. Now I realized the mistake I've made. I still have some questions: 1.how can participle be used to modify "the man" with the same meaning in setence A? "The man having prepared the documents...?"

2. Is it possible for the present participle to indicate something that usually happens? e.g. The man repairing bikes (The man who repairs bikes)

3. Are there other occasions when present participle can't be simply used to modify a noun? Because I'm always wondering if the sentence "The war breaking out in 1860 was recorded." is acceptable or not. I think "breaking out" here can not be used to indicate "the war that broke out", but I'm not sure about it.

So could you kindly explain them to me? Thank you.