Explanation of the rule for the present participle in this sentence. Please help!

[Profe 88]

How do I explain how the present participle is being used in this sentence:
She asked about Janice being abused by her father.

 

[Profe 88]

I have these 2 explanations for using the present participle. I don't feel like they apply to the sentence written above. Any assistance with this is greatly appreciated!

 

[Tarheel]

I would be more concerned about other things.

Abe: She asked about Janice being abused by her father.
Bob: Huh?
Abe: What do you mean, "Huh?"
Bob: Well, that's as clear as mud. Who is "She"? Who is she talking to? Whose father?

 

[Profe 88]

While discussing the novel, Bridge to Terabithia, Eva asked her classmate about Janice (the character) being abuse by her (Janice's) father.

Is my question about the use of the word BEING in this sentence clear?

 

[emsr2d2]

While discussing the novel no comma here "Bridge to Terabithia", Eva asked her classmate about Janice (the a character) being abused by her (Janice's) father.

Is my question about the use of the word BEING "being" in this sentence clear?

The word "being" has been used correctly in that sentence. The way it's used in that sentence isn't connected to the examples you gave in post #2. It simply refers to Janice's state (present or past). The sentence is in the passive voice. Does that help?

Passive:
She is being abused by her father.
She has been abused by her father.
She was being abused by her father.

Active:
Her father is abusing her.
Her father has abused her.
Her father was abusing her.

 

[Profe 88]

Yes, thank you! I knew it wasn't related to the other 2 examples in the original post. I couldn't think of the correct explanation why the -ING form was correct.
Passive voice makes sense. Thanks!

 

[orangutan]

Not a teacher

I would say this isn't a present participle, it's a gerund

What did she ask about? Janice being abused by her father / the being abused of Janice by her father

About is a preposition, it must be followed by a noun or a gerund (which is a kind of noun, but there's a longer story there).

 

[Tarheel]

@Profe 88 Do you understand the sentence in question?

 

[Profe 88]

Interesting. Yes. I know what gerunds are.
Thank you for noting that ABOUT needs to be followed by a noun/gerund.

I have a student who was completing a task for his English class in China. It's a task that's often on the Cambridge exam where students have to complete sentences with the correct form of a word. While I inherently know the correct form to complete the sentences, sometimes I'm at a loss as to WHY x-form is better than y-form.

I appreciate your response to my question!

 

[Tarheel]

I don't think "why" questions are useful.

 

[jutfrank]

Janice was abused by her father.

This is a grammatical sentence, with a subject and predicate. It says that something happened, as a matter of fact.

She asked about X.

The X represents the object of her questioning, which in this case is the fact that Janice was abused by her father. We can call it one of the 'arguments' of the verb ask.

*She asked about Janice was abused by her father.

This is ungrammatical. The preposition about, like all other prepositions, must be followed by an argument, not a sentence. We can correct it by transforming the finite verb was into a gerund:

She asked about Janice being abused by her father.