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In the previous question I was told that these sentences are clumsy and their meanings are confusing:

  • Being taken to the hospital, he survived.

  • Being beaten by the snow, he died.

Can I convert these sentence into meaningfull sentences as follows:

  1. Being taken to the hospital, he died.

(To mean: while he was being taken to the hospital, he died)

  1. Being beaten by mother to her son, the father arrived.

(To mean: While the son was being beaten by his mother, the father arrived)

and,

Do I have to use "while" in front of "being+past participle in above sentences to imply those intended meanings?

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yubraj
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  • I know 'being' can be used with adjective. For example:

    Being a student, she works hard.

    But, the use of being with past participle is confusing to me. 'being taken to the hospital' is said to be "continueous present participle in passive" which i don't understand because 'being taken to the hospital' implies ''while he was being taken to the hospital"

     – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 06:55
  • Your second sentence is problematic IMHO. If you use passive voice, that "to her son"-part shouldn't be there and it sounds wrong to me. Aside from that, that sentence looks to be a typical error of dangling participles that we (learners) make every now and then. – Cardinal Oct 16 '16 at 07:48
  • @cardinal, as you said it's wrong to use 'to her son! how can I remove "to her son" without changing the meaning of sentence? – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 10:21
  • @cardinal please reply me – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 13:21
  • Sorry, I didn't check the ell. Why do you think you should add that part? I do not see any problem with "Being beaten by his mother, he saw that his father park the car." – Cardinal Oct 16 '16 at 14:12
  • @cardinal what kind of meaning would it (the sentence you suggested) have ? – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 14:33
  • That means while he was being beaten by his mother he saw that his father finished parking the car. – Cardinal Oct 16 '16 at 14:53
  • @cardinal Then, I'm going to edit the question to include this sentence – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 14:54
  • @cardinal I'm expecting a good understandable answer for this question. The answer would be helpfull to all English Learner. – yubraj Oct 16 '16 at 14:59
  • I see your point. I think you can ask your questions on the main chat-room, too. Give it a try. – Cardinal Oct 16 '16 at 15:05
  • @Cardinal yeah ! I have asked http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/24938/language-overflow – yubraj Oct 17 '16 at 04:39

1 Answers1

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I think you are mistaken in your belief that starting a sentence with

Being past participle

in isolation has an implication of

While he was being ...

In all cases I can think of we would explicitly include the extra information

While he was being taken to the hospital he died

While he was being beaten by his mother his father arrived

When we start the sentence with Being we are using the adjectival form

Being a doctor he was able to give medical assistance

Being a lawyer he was familiar with the legal process

Your example of

Being beaten by the snow, he died

is actually an example of the adjectival form of being. It is important to realise that beaten also may be a verb or an adjective. In this example we are using beaten as an adjective meaning defeated.

having been defeated by the snow, he died.

is the interpretation of

being beaten by the snow, he died.

You are thinking of this as if it were like your previous "mother" example, as if the snow were beating, that is hitting, a person.

while he was being beaten by the snow, he died

which is not the correct interpretation.

djna
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