Question
Updated on
8 Mar 2018
- Simplified Chinese (China)
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English (US)
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Japanese
Question about English (US)
The clash erupted in public on Tuesday after the United States government, citing national security concerns, called for a full investigation into a hostile bid to buy the American chip stalwart Qualcomm.
why is "citing" but not "was citing"? and why is "called" but not "was calling" in the above sentence?
The clash erupted in public on Tuesday after the United States government, citing national security concerns, called for a full investigation into a hostile bid to buy the American chip stalwart Qualcomm.
why is "citing" but not "was citing"? and why is "called" but not "was calling" in the above sentence?
why is "citing" but not "was citing"? and why is "called" but not "was calling" in the above sentence?
Answers
8 Mar 2018
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- English (US)
The reporter is saying it in present tense even though the action was past.
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- English (US)
The reporter is saying it in present tense even though the action was past.
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
Thanks for your answer. But I don't quite understand, is there anything be omitted?
- English (US)
@Luoye16
Nothing is omitted.
I understand it because I hear reporting done that way; I’m trying to think of how to convey it to you...
They’re reporting it like it’s currently happening but they are clarifying that it happened on Tuesday, the other day.
I did not say that clearly. I don’t want you to think the reporter is tricking you!
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- English (US)
If you put the word, THEY before Citing [cited] and before Called- would the paragraph make better sense to you?
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
Thank you for your answer, you are so kind! "Citing" make sense to me as you explained, but why "called for " not "calling for"?
- Simplified Chinese (China)
@Chri8tine I think I might have figured it out. "citing"="who cited", because it's tense should be consistent with the predicate verb that is "called", for this event happened on Tuesday, am I right?
- English (US)
- English (US)
Reporting is often done in the present tense instead of the past tense but that is not what is happening in this sentence. In fact, that's not even the standard present tense form of "to cite". It is the present participle form and "citing national security concerns" is a present participle phrase acting as an adverb here. See "Confusion with Present Participle Phrases" at https://www.dailywritingtips.com/4-types-of-ger...
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- English (US)
@Luoye16 No. "who cited" is a relative clause. That is not what this is. It is a present participle phrase acting as an adverb. It answers the question "How/by what means did the government call/push for a full investigation?" The answer being "by citing national security concerns". The "by" is not included in a present participle phrase like this though. In other words, they used national security as the reason for calling for an investigation. Reduced relative clauses do exist that take this form though. For instance, "The boy playing the video game is my brother." = "The boy who is playing the video game is my brother."
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
- English (US)
Another example of a present participle phrase adverb: The man, providing indisputable evidence, convinced the owner to fire the cashier. -- How did the man convince the owner to fire the cashier? By providing indisputable evidence.
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
@CommanderKeen Are there some rules to indicate which situation it is, reduced relative clause or present participle phrase acting as an adverb?
- English (US)
@Luoye16 Hmmm. I can't think of any right now. If the clause isn't related to the main verb though somehow, that should signal a reduced relative clause, I think. For instance, "The man, tapping his foot, convinced the owner to fire the cashier." Tapping one's foot usually doesn't lead to convincing someone to do something so here it should be interpretted as a relative clause, not an adverb. (The man who is tapping his foot now convincted the owner to fire the cashier.) Although, I am sure someone could concoct some strange ass context in which it would be the adverb instead. For instance, if the owner is strapped to a chair and if the man taps his foot for 5 minutes, the chair will suddenly be electricuted and the owner will die. So the owner was convinced by the foot tapping because he wanted to stay alive. Sounds like the Saw movies. Hahaha. :)
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