6. ADVERBIAL IN ING- PARTICIPLE CLAUSES EXPRESSING TIME AND CONDIT...

2.2.6. Adverbial in ing- participle clauses expressing time and condition

Studying many examples containing adverbial ing-participle clauses, we

can see that adverbial ing-participle clauses can express both time and condition.

For such these cases, we must assume the speakers’ implicature or goals, or base

on the meaning of the whole passage to interpret the meaning of the adverbial ing-

participle clauses. We usually find these clauses in scientific fields. For example:

Adding one chemical factor into another one, we may have a new

chemical substance.

The sentence can be paraphrased in two ways.

• when we presuppose the speaker’s intention is to talk about the condition to

have a new chemical substance, the sentence can be understood as follow:

If we add one chemical factor into another one, we may have a new

chemical substance.

And the equivalent sentence in Vietnamese is :

Nếu ta trộn một chất này với một chất khác ta có thể thu đợc một hợp chất

mới.

• When we assume the speaker’s intention is to emphasize the time that we add

one chemical factor into another one in order to have a new chemical

substance, and the speaker is sure that this will happen, the sentence can be

paraphrased as follow:

When we add one chemical factor into another one, we may have a

new substance.

For this meaning , we must translate the sentence like this:

Khi ta trộn một chát này với một chất khac ta có thể thu đợc một hợp chất

Another example:

Multiplying three by three, we have nine.

( When we multiply three by three, we have nine.

Or: If we multiply three by three, we have nine.)

And in Vietnamese, we have two equivalent sentences:

Khi ta nhân 3 với 3, ta sẽ dợc 9

Or: Nếu ta nhân 3 với 3, ta sẽ đợc 9.