Present participle clause
Dear Dr English,
I have a couple of questions to ask you concerning the following two sentences.
1 In the US, a movie rating system is used to provide parents with advance information on films, enabling them to make judgments on movies they want (or do not want) their children to see.
2 Ton couldnÕt keep the secret to himself anymore and turned to his younger brother, taking him to the apartment to see his son.
Both sentences are the same structure, arenÕt they? And please explain ÒenablingÓ and ÒtakingÓ. For what purpose is the writer using the -ing form after the comma in these sentences?
Best regards,
Souphonh Phomsavanh
Both sentences use a present participle (-ing form) structure. A present participle clause is used to show the close relationship between two events, like cause and effect. Of course a present participle clause is not the only structure to express a cause and effect but it is quite popular because you can put the two events directly together in one sentence.
The advance information on films causes parents to be able to make judgments on movies they want (or do not want) their children to see.
The fact that Ton couldnÕt keep the secret to himself anymore caused him to take his younger brother to the apartment to see his son.
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'it's' or 'its'
Dear Dr English,
I am not sure which of the following sentences is correct. How do I know when to put an apostrophe in ÒitÕsÓ and when to use ÒitsÓ?
The dog kept turning around and bit its tail.
The dog kept turning around and bit itÕs tail.
Thank you very much.
Yuthana Yomlamai
The first sentence is correct.
The 's in the word Ò it's is a short form of 'is'.
It is me who sent you that text message.
ItÕs me who sent you that text message.
But ÒitsÓ is the possessive pronoun of ÒitÓ and means Òbelonging to itÓ; the same as mine, yours, ours, theirs, hers and his.
This elephant always trumpets loudly and lifts its trunk up and down when itÕs nervous.
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Once, twice, thrice and ...
Dear Dr English,
I am familiar with the words ÒonceÓ, ÒtwiceÓ and ÒthriceÓ but have never seen any further terms. Are there any terms further than thrice used in English?
Somhatai Chaipanich
IÕm afraid not. These are the only terms of this type used; any numbers further than thrice are put together with ÒtimesÓ, such as Òfour timesÓ, Òfive timesÓ, Òten timesÓ etc.
Somjai told us that she has been to Chiang Mai only once, but to Phuket five times.
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