[General] standing up and then forgetting the question

[kompstar]

"I made an ass of myself at the meeting—standing up and then forgetting the question."


If "...standing up and then forgetting the question." is abbreviation for "I was standing up and then I was forgetting the question" <- in other words Is it Past Continuous?

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would call "standing" and "forgetting" present participles there.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Well, it differentiates it from the past participle.

 

[TheParser]

Is "...standing up and then forgetting the question." an abbreviation for "I was standing up and then I was forgetting the question"?

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


Hello, Kompstar:

A teacher has already answered you. I just wanted to expand on the answer.

In my opinion, "Standing up and then forgetting the question" is NOT a shorter way to express the past progressive. I believe that it is accurate to say that "I was forgetting the question" is not natural English.

Please look at these examples that I found in a very reliable book:

1. "He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him."
2. "He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him."

What do you think?

Is it possible that the "original" sentence was something like: "I stood up and then forgot the question. I made an a-- of myself."

Using the participle, we get one smooth sentence: "I made an a-- of myself, standing up and then forgetting the question."

In fact, if you rearrange the words, maybe this idea becomes clearer: Standing up and then forgetting the question, I made an a-- of myself.


(IF I have understood him correctly, I wish to credit L.G. Alexander's Longman English Grammar, 1988.)

 

[tzfujimino]

Well, it differentiates it from the past participle.

... and the word 'past' in 'past participle' has nothing to do with the past tense.

 

[Rover_KE]

I would call "standing" and "forgetting" present participles there.

That's right, and "standing up and then forgetting the question" is a participial phrase.

 

[kompstar]

Thank you for all your answers.

 

[Rover_KE]

Your clicks on Post Thanks are all the thanks we need.

 

[kompstar]

Your clicks on Post Thanks are all the thanks we need.

I understand.

I have one more (the last) question. I've found such sentence "Most people are against bringing back the death penalty." Am I right that the word "bringing" is present participle?

 

[MikeNewYork]

No. "Bringing" is a gerund there. It acts as a noun in that use.

 

[TheParser]

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

Hello, Kompstar:

May I just expand on the teacher's excellent answer?

1. You know that the word "against" is a preposition.

a. You also know that one needs a (pro)noun after a preposition.

2. The teacher reminded us that the -ing word is a noun (gerund).

3. My teachers told me that you can "prove" this by substituting an ordinary noun. For example:

a. "Most people are against the return of capital punishment."

4. A personal example: I am constantly fighting against eating too much ice cream. (It is so delicious!) / I am constantly fighting against the consumption of too much ice cream.