Which sentence is right

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dut_thinker

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Dear teachers

The following two sentences, which one is right, or both are wrong?
(1) The water overflowing from the sink was cleaned up.
(2) The water overflowed from the sink was cleaned up.

I think the first one is right, but my frined chose the second one.
 

TheParser

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Dear teachers

The following two sentences, which one is right, or both are wrong?
(1) The water overflowing from the sink was cleaned up.
(2) The water overflowed from the sink was cleaned up.

I think the first one is right, but my frined chose the second one.


NOT A TEACHER


(1) I believe that you are 100% correct!

(a) The water [that was] overflowing from the sink was cleaned up [by someone].

(b) The water overflowed from the sink, and it was cleaned up [by someone].
 

SoothingDave

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1 doesn't make sense to me, since the water "overflowing" is an ongoing action. In order to be cleaned up (past tense) the overflowing can't be ongoing.
 

dut_thinker

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1 doesn't make sense to me, since the water "overflowing" is an ongoing action. In order to be cleaned up (past tense) the overflowing can't be ongoing.

For the first sentence, what i really wanted to express was is that: The water overflowed from sink yesterday. Then the water was cleaned up by my mom.

To put these two sentences together, i wrote: The water overflowing from the sink was cleaned up by my mom.
 

tedtmc

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The water overflowing from the sink was cleaned up by my mom.

not at teacher

I've been wondering why the continuous tense is used for first verb.

I would prefer:

The water which overflowed from the sink was cleaned up by my mom
 

dut_thinker

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not at teacher

I've been wondering why the continuous tense is used for first verb.

I would prefer:

The water which overflowed from the sink was cleaned up by my mom

Thanks for your reply.
Beacaue I wanted to learn how to use the present participle.
 
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