the dog that barked/the dog barking

[Vladv1]

Can we reduce the past simple that denotes not an immediate action, but an action that lasted for some time, to ING in relative clause? The dog that barked all nighk woke me up several times (The dog barking). The man that bought books there every day was my pal (The man buying)

 

[emsr2d2]

Can we reduce the past simple that denotes not an immediate action, but an action that lasted for some time, to ING in relative clause?

1. The dog that barked all night woke me up several times. (The dog barking ...)
2. The man that bought books there every day was my pal. (The man buying ...)

The -ing form would work in both of those sentences. Note, though, that it's not just the simple past that can convert to an -ing form.

The baby that cries all night every night in the flat next door is driving me mad.
The baby that has been crying all night every night in the flat next door is driving me mad.
The baby crying all night every night in the flat next door is driving me mad.

 

[jutfrank]

Can we reduce the past simple that denotes not an immediate action, but an action that lasted for some time, to ING in relative clause?

You can't 'reduce' anything, but I think I understand what you're asking. Yes, the -ing form can readily express the same kind of duration that you get from durative verb phrases.