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Hi Leo,

I'm having trouble getting my head around the part of the following sentence in brackets:

It is important to note that only one percent [reported having experienced] a physical attack.

To me, the sentence means the same as: It is important to note that only one percent
reported THAT THEY HAD EXPERIENCED a physical attack.

If they mean the same, what is the grammatical explanation for changing the past perfect
(had experienced) to "having experienced"? I am wondering if it is like a reduced noun
clause that needs a subject, so "have" takes a gerund form? (Just typing that makes me
want to think about retirement.....)

Any light you could shed on this for me would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Reader

Dear Reader,

Thank you for your question.

Traditional Grammatical Explanation
The brackets you use in your quotation indicate that this is additional information. The author quoting here has evidently chosen to add clarifying remarks, most likely as the quote would be unclear otherwise. The author made the choice to follow “report” by the “-ing form” rather than a full noun clause this case. (Adding the morpheme "ing" to verbs can play multiple roles in a sentence including forming gerunds [noun form of a verb], adjectives, and present participles. There is considerable debate about the boundaries and I shall refer to all as the "-ing form" for this column unless one clearly fits.)

The word report takes a noun object. Grammatical nouns can come in various guises. They can appear as simple nouns (apple, car, beauty), they can appear as noun clauses (“that he has worked”), pronouns (I, she, them) gerunds/-ing forms (smoking, working) as well as others. Noun clauses can be introduced by wh- words, if, whether, and that. They can occupy the subject or object of the verb as well as the object of a preposition (“I slept on what would have been the dining room table”). The same is true of the -ing form.

Gerunds may refer to general ideas (“Smoking is prohibited”). The –ing form may also refer to a specific noun, as appears to be the case in your example. In this case, traditional grammar generally classifies such -ing forms to be reductions of a fuller noun clause. Thus the subordinator (that), subject (they), and verb (had experienced) are reduced by eliminating the optional subordinator along with the noun, which is redundant as it is the same as the subject in the main clause (the one percent). The verb is then changed into a verbal, the -ing form having experienced. Reducing a clause inherently eliminates tense differentiations, thus both they had experienced and they have experienced reduce to having experienced. Other context should help to clarify the tense in such situations. The choice to use having experienced as opposed to experiencing specifies that the event took place prior to another event in the sentence.

It is important to note that noun clauses cannot always be reduced. A lot of this has to do with the words deployed. Some verbs can take both noun clauses (“reported that they had experienced”) and -ing forms (“reported having experienced”), but not all can. Compare if we replaced “report” with “say.” We see that “...one percent said that they had experienced” would work, but “said having experienced” would not.

Thus we could certainly look at the two options you suggested as separate alternative complements to the verb report rather than one being the reduced form of the other, similar to “I like fishing” and “I like to fish.” In many ways, this is a more elegant explanation.

Teaching Tips
Simple SVO sentences mark the beginning of almost any language learning. Learners dealing with noun clauses and gerunds in such a case as this should be solid on the use of simple nouns. From there, students can develop simple verbs to take not just simple nouns as objects, but also noun clauses and gerunds/-ing forms. It should be a simple matter to progress from “I like French” to “I like speaking French” and then to “I like that I speak French.” Showing these are all grammatical expressions that use different predicates (simple nouns, gerunds, and noun clauses) makes this fairly straightforward.

Note “I like speaking French” is generally interpreted as the general gerund meaning, rather than the reduced noun clause, reinforcing the viewpoint that these are two alternative complements, rather one being the reduced form of the other.

You can also point out that the -ing form phrases can refer to any subject. If no subject comes before the gerund, then it is interpreted as either the general sense or referring to the subject of the main clause. The latter interpretation can be strengthened by the awkward “I like my speaking French.” but would more likely be spelled out as a complete noun clause. It can also be helpful to point out to advanced learners that sophisticated writing employs a variety of patterns so learning all of these possibilities can be useful.

Language Notes
So, what is the difference between a noun clause and -ing form phrase in terms of meaning? As mentioned, one issue is the possible ambiguity between the general meaning (the abstract act of speaking French) and the subject specific meaning (my act of speaking French). In some cases, as in the example you give, the meaning clearly leans heavily toward interpreting this as the one percent having experienced, rather than everyone. In this case, there seems to be no clear denotational semantic difference.

However, language is a tricky thing. People attach certain feelings to different words in terms of the connotations. Compare “slim” with “skinny” or “kitty” with “cat.” The same seems to hold true, to a lesser extent, for grammatical structures. Thus using “reported having Xed” may have a connotation in which the emphasis is more on the action than the actor, while “reported that they had Xed” may subtly move the focus to the actor, perhaps because it repeats the actor “they.”

One of the challenges of writing is deciding which structure works best in any given situation. In the particular example you give, it may have been something as simple as the author choosing the phrase because it is shorter than the clause. In this case, the author could even have shortened it to “…one percent [reported] a physical attack” (because “report” can also take a simple noun in addition to a noun clause and a gerund phrase), but obviously this would leave out the crucial information that the one percent actually experienced the attack rather than possibly just witnessed it.

I hope this clarifies the issue for you somewhat and that you will not be thinking of retirement until you are truly ready for it!

Last Month’s Brain Teaser
Look at these three sentences. What common grammatical challenge for learners do they have in common and illustrate? (Hint: It is a holdover from Old English.) How might you present this in class?

1. ChildrenNow is a national organization for people who care about children and want to ensure that they are the top public priority.
2. While sitting on Brighton beach (England) back in 2005 with my new girlfriend Verity I suddenly thought the view of our feet pointing out to sea would make a nice photo.
3. The distinctions between the two geese have led to confusion and debate among ornithologists.

The first correct response:

The three examples each include irregular plural nouns (people, feet, and geese). These do stem from an older system of marking plurality that altered the vowel sound instead of adding –s. I don’t know the particulars, and I wouldn’t trouble students with them either. I merely present them as exceptions to the rule and mention that the diverse roots of English (German, Scandinavian, French, and so on) ensure that nearly every rule will have an exception (gheti for dinner, anyone?)

Thaddeus Niles
Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY

Thank you, Thaddeus. These are, as you say, examples of irregular plurals. Most nouns in English add an -s or -es, but some have more complex plurals, including these holdovers from Old English. Many of the older plurals, such as these examples, are common words and learners are able to pick them up quickly as they learn the words themselves. As these are well known to learners, they can make excellent examples to support why grammar does not always fit absolutist prescriptions as to what is or is not correct. Language has much nuance that defies attempts to derive simple and definitive rules.

This Month’s Brain Teaser
Look at these two sentences. How would you explain the difference between them to students?

1. He knows that she wanted more coffee.
2. He knows she wanted more coffee.

The first correct answer will be published in the next column of Grammatically Speaking.

Please e-mail your responses to GrammaticallySpeaking@tesol.org.

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