contemplating throwing

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Anewcomer

#471739 Sat, 02 Feb 08 05:59 AM

Hi Teachers

I came across this sentence in a story book:

He had stood upon his balcony and contemplated throwing himself down to the street.
Why it's not like this:
He had stood upon his balcony and contemplated to throw himself down to the street

And what is the difference?

And can i say: "continuing saying things" or "continue saying things" or "continue to say things", and what's the difference

Thanks

Anewcomer

Joined on Mon, Jan 28 2008

Full Member (167)

Hoa Thai

#471743 Sat, 02 Feb 08 06:32 AM

Anewcomer wrote:
Hi Teachers I came across this sentence in a story book: He had stood upon his balcony and contemplated throwing himself down to the street. Why it's not like this: He had stood upon his balcony and contemplated to throw himself down to the street And what is the difference? And can i say: "continuing saying things" or "continue saying things" or "continue to say things", and what's the difference Thanks

Hi,

The verb contemplate belongs to a group of verbs such as admit, avoid, deny, enjoy, and many more that are followed by a noun or gerund but not an infinitive.

The verb continue, however, may be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive.

We use the present progressive to send a message of ‘in middle of doing something’ (i.e., the action itself). The present tense simply shows the state.

Hoa Thai

Joined on Mon, Oct 15 2007

Vietnam

Contributing Member (1,100)

Best Regards - Hoa Thai

Gerunds, Nouns, Present progressive, Present tenses, Tenses, Verbs

Anewcomer

#471745 Sat, 02 Feb 08 06:38 AM

Hi

Can a sentence be like this: He's continuing eating the rice. and "I saw him continuing eating"

I mean form a sentence with Subject+to be+ving+gerund+complement.
Which means there'll be 2 consecutive V-ing in the sentence. Does it exist ?

Thanks

Anewcomer

Gerunds

Hoa Thai

#471746 Sat, 02 Feb 08 06:53 AM

Anewcomer wrote:
Which means there'll be 2 consecutive V-ing in the sentence. Does it exist ?

Yes! Both contemplating throwing and continuing eating are okay. In other words, '2 consecutive -ing forms in a phrase' does exist. Here is an example from a BBC website to help relieve your concern:

"While people continuing eating beef it seems sensible to make as much use of the animal as possible" - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/660975.stm

Hoa Thai

Anewcomer

#471750 Sat, 02 Feb 08 08:04 AM

Why there's no "are" before "continuing" ?

So is it acceptable to say: He is continuing eating despite he has already eaten seven bowls of curry

Thanks

Anewcomer

Anonymous

#471757 Sat, 02 Feb 08 08:51 AM

Anewcomer wrote:
Why there's no "are" before "continuing" ? So is it acceptable to say: He is continuing eating despite he has already eaten seven bowls of curry Thanks

There is nothing wrong with "He is continuing eating..."

Anonymous

Hoa Thai

#471762 Sat, 02 Feb 08 09:19 AM

Anewcomer wrote:
Why there's no "are" before "continuing" ? So is it acceptable to say: He is continuing eating despite he has already eaten seven bowls of curry Thanks

Hi,

Oh! I see what causes you to concern. You want to know if using the two -ing forms is redundant, right? In your specific sentence, since he is 'in the middle of continuing' as well as 'eating', there is no need to have two -ing forms. I would use continuing + infinitive instead - infinitive is stronger than gerund. However, here is a sentence that shows the use of continuing eating that makes sense:

I don't know why she is continuing eating such an unhealthy food!

The sentence sends this message: there seems to be no end in sight (i.e., continuing) that she will stop eating the unhealthy food.

Hoa Thai

Gerunds