[Grammar] Expressing a series of actions with present participles

[angelsrolls]

Can I express a series of actions in the simple present tense with present participles as in the following?

I wake up early, have breakfast, brush my teeth, go to work and return home in the evening.
I wake up early, having breakfast, brushing my teeth, going to work and returning home in the evening.

As far as I know, this works for actions in the past, but I'm not sure if this is true for other tenses.

 

[GoesStation]

The first sentence is OK. I'd add a comma after "work".

The second doesn't work.

 

[angelsrolls]

What about this one?

"When Harold saw his girlfriend Gloria across the crowded airport, he sprinted toward her, leaping over luggage, colliding with travelers, and dodging potted palms." (retrieved from http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/iteminaseries.htm)

 

[GoesStation]

I think that one works because the first verb is a verb of motion and the following phrases narrate a sequence of actions occurring in a short period of time.

 

[Raymott]

GS is right. Additionally, the series of actions occurred during the action of the first verb, 'sprinted'. This can also be used in the present.
"He wrote/writes the letter, thinking carefully about his phrasing, and being sure to get his argument right."

 

[angelsrolls]

Would you agree that the verbs in the present participle form in both the sentence I quoted above and Raymott's sentence indicate a manner?

What about if I construct a sentence in the following context?
Jack went to his office, giving him a box of chocolate, thanking him for his help.

Is this sentence grammatical or should I say "Jack went to his office and gave him a box of chocolate and thanked him for his help"?

 

[GoesStation]

Would you agree that the verbs in the present participle form in both the sentence I quoted above and Raymott's sentence indicate a manner?

I don't understand what you mean by "a manner".

What about if I construct a sentence in the following context?
Jack went to his office, giving him a box of chocolate (no comma) and thanking him for his help.

Is this sentence grammatical or should I say "Jack went to his office and gave him a box of chocolate and thanked him for his help"?

If a previous sentence established who "him" refers to, you can use either sentence with my corrections above.

 

[angelsrolls]

I don't understand what you mean by "a manner".

By "a manner", I meant how the act of writing is done in, for example, Raymott's sentence. I mean if we were to ask the question "how did he write the letter?", would we get the answer "thinking carefully about his phrasing, and being sure to get his argument right"?

 

[GoesStation]

"When Harold saw his girlfriend Gloria across the crowded airport, he sprinted toward her, leaping over luggage, colliding with travelers, and dodging potted palms." (retrieved from http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/iteminaseries.htm)

"He wrote/writes the letter, thinking carefully about his phrasing, and being sure to get his argument right."

Would you agree that the verbs in the present participle form in both the sentence I quoted above and Raymott's sentence indicate a manner?

By "a manner", I meant how the act of writing is done in, for example, Raymott's sentence. I mean if we were to ask the question "how did he write the letter?", would we get the answer "thinking carefully about his phrasing, and being sure to get his argument right"?

I understand now. You mean "a manner of acting", and yes, those present participles do indicate a manner of acting.

 

[angelsrolls]

I'm confused here.

1. Jack went to his office, giving him a box of chocolate and thanking him for his help.
2. I woke up early, having breakfast, brushing my teeth, going to work and returning home in the evening.

I don't understand why the first sentence is fine while the second is not although the structure of the first sentence is the same as that of the second sentence.

I have one more question. Can I use the present participle form when listing a series of actions in the future?

1. Jack will go to his office, give him a box of chocolate and thank him for his help.
2. Jack will go to his office, giving him a box of chocolate and thanking him for his help.

 

[GoesStation]

Unlike GS, I do not think that the first sentence is acceptable.

I'm having second thoughts, but as I mentioned, a previous sentence would have to establish the context. Something like this:

The phone in Jack's pocket rang. It was Jim, frantically telling him he'd left his briefcase behind. Jack went to his office, giving him a box of chocolate and thanking him for his help.

​

Pretty clumsy, I admit, but still (I think) marginally passable.

 

[jutfrank]

1. Jack went to his office, giving him a box of chocolate and thanking him for his help.
2. I woke up early, having breakfast, brushing my teeth, going to work and returning home in the evening.

Neither is good. Don't use the present participle forms to simply list a sequence of actions. That is not a correct use. A correct use is when the actions in the present participle forms help describe a picture of what is involved in the complete action of the initial verb. (The initial verb can be in any tense theoretically.)

Look again at the following correct uses, especially the second. Are the participles simply listing a sequence of events?

When Harold saw his girlfriend Gloria across the crowded airport, he sprinted toward her, leaping over luggage, colliding with travelers, and dodging potted palms.

He writes the letter, thinking carefully about his phrasing, and being sure to get his argument right.

 

[angelsrolls]

I know. I made a mistake by quoting that sentence. But I do run across sentences in which a sequence of actions is listed with present participles. I don't know, maybe I misunderstand those.

To my surprise, I found the following sentence, which I think is similar to my sentence.

"King waited until the others had left, confident that they would do his binding. Then he drove back to his office, giving Iris an early morning wake-up call, telling her where he was and for her not to worry." (The King and His County by George Motz)

How do you find the English above? The verbs drive, give and tell are seperate actions that happened one after another. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[GoesStation]

King was confident that they would do his bidding. If the text says binding, it's a misprint.