present participle

[captain1]

Hello, I would like to understand ,what does "Ing" symbolize here?

Shmuel (Shmulik) Shilo was born in Lutsk, Poland, to a Zionist family. In August 1942, in the midst of World War II, most of the Jews of Lutsk were murdered. Shmuel managed to escape, hiding for several months with a Polish family


I know that its a present participle but there are some categories of present participle: like present progressive, past progressive or progressive generally.
In this sentence hiding has the same meaning like "was hiding". So is it Abbreviation?

If it has the same meaning but its still not the same, can you give me an article? I haven't found this yet, I have found other types of present participle(sub-categories).

Thanks.

 

[captain1]

No answer?:-(

 

[Matthew Wai]

I consider 'hiding' to be a present participle modifying 'Shmuel'.

 

[captain1]

Yes, I know his story, this is in Hebrew so its not a matter of misunderstanding.
I just want to know: When present participle like this(hiding) can be used? what are the cases of putting this? I didn't see any article that talks about this particular "ing".

Thanks.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Shmuel managed to escape and hid for several months with a Polish family.
Shmuel managed to escape, hiding for several months with a Polish family.

 

[captain1]

Two questions please:
1. Why is it written in the present tense? (hid/hiding), the holocaust happened in 1939-1945. Not now.
2. So, Does always "ing" like this sentence have the same meaning of the present simple?

Thanks

 

[Matthew Wai]

His in in Krakow

The above typo might confuse the OP.

 

[Matthew Wai]

He in in Krakow

I guess there is still a typo after your typo correction.

 

[captain1]

According to my understanding, this ing would need to be: tense(was)+ing but the writer wanted to shorten the line, so he deleted it.
Here, the sentence would need to be "was+hiding" but the writer has wanted to omit it. Am I right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it should be 'hid' instead of 'was hiding'.

 

[captain1]

Two questions, if you think so.
1. Do you think that this sentence is not correct? the writer would need to use hid and not "ing" here?
2. What is the difference between was+hiding and hid(past simple)?

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Captain:

Of course, I cannot answer your great question, but here are some comments from one author. (I guess that we should respect his ideas, for he was a professor of English at the University of Kansas, and he was also a guest professor at the University of Oslo.)

"Hearing a step, I turned."

1. He does not accept the usual explanation that "hearing a step" modifies "I."

2. He thinks that it has the force of an adverb clause. He suggests three possibilites:

a. When I heard a step, I turned.
b. After I heard a step, I turned.
c. Because I heard a step, I turned.


3. He then asks: Does "a," "b" or "c" come closest to the meaning of "Hearing a step, I turned"?

a. His answer: "The answer is that it makes no difference."

*****

Let's look at your sentence: "He managed to escape for several months, hiding with a sympathetic family."

a. If the -ing word did not exist, how would you express the idea contained in "hiding with a sympathetic family"?

i. I have an idea, but I will keep it to myself, lest I misguide you.

ii. I do think, however, that it is accurate to say that we might have to use some kind of adverbial clause.

-- That book is Making Sense of Grammar (1980) by John Clark Jordan, page 100.

 

[MikeNewYork]

There is no way that "hearing a step" is a clause. It has no subject or verb. It is a participial phrase and it does modify "I".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Then the redefining was not needed.

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. Do you think that this sentence is not correct? the writer would need to use hid and not "ing" here?

I think both 'and hid' and ', hiding' are correct.

 

[captain1]

I was googling "present participle" and haven't found an article about this particular form. Maybe because I don't understand this properly.
Someone can help me?
Thanks

 

[MikeNewYork]

What do you mean by "this particular form"? This use of a present participle is very common.

 

[Matthew Wai]

captain1, do you mean the following form:

In English-Chinese dictionaries, the two verbs translate the same, causing confusion.

When I wrote 'causing confusion' above, I used 'causing' to replace 'and thus cause'.

 

[captain1]

But here:
Shmuel managed to escape and hid for several months with a Polish family.
Shmuel managed to escape, hiding for several months with a Polish family.

"Hiding" took the past simple form "hid". So its not always the same.
And:
In English-Chinese dictionaries, the two verbs translate the same, causing confusion.
In English-Chinese dictionaries, the two verbs translate the same and cause confusion.
cause has the form of the present simple.

 

[Matthew Wai]

So its not always the same.

They are the same in terms of tense agreement.

The simple past 'hid' is used because 'managed' is the simple past.
The simple present 'cause' is used because 'translate' is the simple present.