4. -ING

4. -ING

1. 4.1. Expressions + -ING

   • 1. MAIN STRUCTURE
     • When the EXPRESSIONS are followed by a verb, the verb ends in -ING
   • 2. EXPRESSIONS
     • IT'S NO USE / IT'S NO GOOD...
       • There's nothing you can do about the situation, so IT'S NO USE WORRYING about it.
       • IT'S NO GOOD TRYING to persuade me. You won't succeed.
     • THERE'S NO POINT IN...
       • THERE'S NO POINT IN HAVING a car if you never use it. THERE WAS NO POINT IN WAITING any longer, so we left.
       • But we usually say "THE point OF DOING something"
         • WHAT'S THE POINT OF HAVING a car if you never use it?
     • IT'S (NOT) WORTH...
       • I live only a short walk from here, so IT'S NOT WORTH TAKING a taxi. Our flight was very early in the morning, so IT WASN'T WORTH GOING to bed.
       • You can say that a film is WORTH SEEING, a book is WORTH READING etc.
         • What was the film like? Was it WORTH SEEING? / Thieves broke into the house, but didn't take anything. There was nothing WORTH STEALING.
     • HAVE TROUBLE/ DIFFICULTY/ A PROBLEM -ING SOMETHING
       • I had TROUBLE FINDING a place to stay. / Did you have any DIFFICULTY GETTING a visa? / People sometimes have PROBLEMS READING my writing.
     • SPEND (TIME)/WASTE (TIME)/BE BUSY DOING SOMETHING
       • He SPENT hours TRYING to repair the clock. / I WASTE a lot of time DOING nothing. / She said she couldn't see me. She was too BUSY DOING other things.
     • GO SWIMMING / GO FISHING ETC
       • We use GO -ING for a number of activities (especially sports)
         • go sailing
           • I've never BEEN SAILING
         • go camping
         • go riding
           • equitação
         • go swimming
           • How often do you GO SWIMMING?
         • go surfing
         • go hiking
           • caminhadas
         • go fishing
         • go scuba diving
           • mergulho submarino
         • go sightseeing
           • visita turística
         • go skiing
           • I'd like to GO SKIING
         • go jogging
           • corrida
         • go shopping
           • When was the last time you WENT SHOPPING?

2. 4.2. SEE SOMEBODY DO and SEE SOMEBODY DOING

   • 1. Somebody DID something + I saw this = I SAW SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING
     • I saw the complete action from beginning to end
   • 2. Somebody WAS DOING something + I saw this = I SAW SOMEBODY DOING SOMETHING
     • I saw him when he was in the middle of doing it. This does not mean that I saw the complete action.
   • 4. After a PASSIVE (he was seen, etc), we use TO
     • He was seen TO get in the car.
   • 3. Sometimes the difference is not important and you can use either form
     • I've never seen her dance. or I've never seen her dancing.
   • VERBS: see, hear, feel, notice, listen, smell, find

3. 4.3. -ING CLAUSES (FEELING TIRED, I WENT TO BED EARLY)

   • 1. When 2 things happens at the same time, you can use -ING CLAUSE
     • Kate is in the kitchen MAKING COFFEE ( = she is in the kitchen and she is making coffee
   • 2. When one action happens during another action. We use -ING for the longer action
     • Joe hurt his knee PLAYING FOOTBALL (=while he was playing)
   • 3. After WHILE or WHEN you can use -ING
     • Joe hurt his knee WHILE PLAYING football
   • 4. When one action happens before another action, we use HAVING (DONE) for the first action
     • HAVING FOUND a hotel, we looked for somewhere to have dinner
     • 4.1. You can say AFTER ...- ING
       • AFTER FINISHING her work, she went home
   • 5. If one action follows another action, you can use the simple -ING form for the first action
     • TAKING a key out of his pocket, he opened the door
       • Not knowing his email address, I wasn't able to contact him
   • 6. You can use -ING CLAUSE to explain something, or to say why somebody does something. Usually the ING CLAUSE comes at the beginning of the sentence (with a comma - , - after it)
     • FELLING tired, I went to bed early ( = because I felt tired)