[Grammar] Do they mean the same thing?

[Heidi]

Dear friends,

Would you please tell me if we can say 'I thanked the woman helping me' to mean 'I thanked the woman who helped me'? Or 'I like books having good plots' to mean 'I like books that have good plots'?

 

[Raymott]

Dear friends,

Would you please tell me if we can say 'I thanked the woman helping me' to mean 'I thanked the woman who helped me'? Or 'I like books having good plots' to mean 'I like books that have good plots'?

1. You could, but your first sentence tends to imply that she's still helping you. The second choice is less ambiguous
2. "I like books having good plots" is also ambiguous. It could mean "I like books to have good plots." In this case, the meaning would normally be the same.
So neither of your suggestions is an improvement.

 

[Rover_KE]

You can, but I don't see why you would want to, when the second sentence of each pair is more natural.

Rover

 

[Heidi]

1. You could, but your first sentence tends to imply that she's still helping you. The second choice is less ambiguous
2. "I like books having good plots" is also ambiguous. It could mean "I like books to have good plots." In this case, the meaning would normally be the same.
So neither of your suggestions is an improvement.

Thank you for your explanation, it really helps.

 

[Heidi]

You can, but I don't see why you would want to, when the second sentence of each pair is more natural.

Rover

I was studying the sentence structure like "do you know the man who lives next to you = do you know the man living next to you".

But after Raymott's explanation, I realize it doesn't always work to simply apply one single rule to each case. Thank you!