“Having” + Past Participle | Advanced English Grammar

More of my advanced English grammar videos:

In this lesson:
0:00 "Having" + Past Participle
0:25 How to use this structure
3:58 Complex examples

TRANSCRIPT
In today's video, we're going to look at a bit of a grammar situation that for some reason
people have a hard time with.
And I'll show you why you shouldn't, because you've already studied this particular structure
in other contexts, with other words and stuff.
So today we're going to look at "having" plus a past participle.
For example, "having been", "having done", "having played", "having finished", etc.
So I'm going to give you a couple of examples to start with, just to show you how we get
to this structure to begin with, and then I'll show you some other situations where
it's a little bit confusing.
So "Having edited his paper, Tom was ready to submit it."
Now, first of all, keep in mind that in spoken English, you probably won't hear this too
much.
It's a little bit formal.
It's mostly used in writing.
But in writing, it is very common to see this structure.
So it's important to understand it.
So first thing you need to understand is that "having" is just... it's basically like a
reduction of a conjunction, a subject, and the verb.
What's very important to remember is that this is a perfect tense, means that whatever
action happened here is finished, is completed, in the past.
Okay?
So, "After he had edited, all of this squeezes to this."
And that's what the "having" means.
The conjunction, "after" or "because", etc., suggests that it's understood in terms of
the context of the whole sentence.
So it's also very important to understand that when you're using this participle in
this kind of structure, the understood subject, like "he", must be the same as the subject
of the next clause.
You can't have this beginning with a different subject because people will not understand
what's happening, who did what, when the action happened, when it finished, etc.
Now, if you want to see it even simpler, I split the two clauses into separate sentences.
"Tom finished editing his paper."
"He was ready to submit it."
These two sentences mean the same as this one sentence.
Now, notice that I don't use "finished".
I could say "having finished editing" instead of "having edited".
So "ing" here, "ed" here.
Why?
Because the "finished" is understood in the "having", because remember, it's a complete
action, so it's obviously he finished doing it, he completed this process, and then we
go to the past participle to show the full mixture of the things, right?
"He had edited", it becomes a past participle squeezed into the "having".
Now, I know this might be a little bit confusing, but we can use this in any context as long
as we have the same subject, right?
So, "Sandy, having finished her chores, Sandy was allowed to go out."
"Having finished her chores", because I don't have a verb for "choring", for example, right?
There's no such thing, so I have to use the "finished" something.
"Having finished" is basically you have twice completion, but because I don't have another
verb for "chores", or I could say "having done her chores", if you want to do it that
way, that would work as well.
"Having finished her chores", "having done her chores", etc.
The "finished", a little bit redundant, redundant meaning you're saying something that you don't
need to say, it's already understood in the "having".
But there are situations where it can be very confusing what is happening, so I'm going
to show you three sentences so that you can compare this particular structure with a simple
participle and with a gerund, which is where people often get confused.
Let's look at that.
Okay, so now we're going to look at a few more sentences, and I'll show you some areas
where it can get a little bit confusing.
So, before we get into the direct comparison, let's look at this one just to give you another
idea of how it could be read in two ways.
Sentences with "having" can be used in two ways.
"Having been to Spain several times, Jim is a great person to ask for tips."
So, this could be an adverb clause or an adjective clause. […]

[engvidAdam]

Thanks for watching! The quiz will be up soon and I'll post when it's ready. In the meanwhile, watch more of my advanced English grammar videos:

[khoaho]

you're the best teacher I've ever seen in my life

[thelegendaryone]

thank you so much adam, I started watching you when I was 11, and now I am 22, I really appreciate you man

[_ezgii]

I still don’t know how I understand this man so clearly when he explains things in English, while my Turkish teachers, who speak my mother language, are harder to understand. Best teacher ever! ✍🏻

[hisedalife]

Having watched this video l understand this part of grammar clearly

[kutlukkgn]

thank you for doing lesson like that...those structure of sentences are getting me to stick with it...

[amirsaleev]

Hello, Adam!)
Thank you for our education!!
It's a really critical topic!!

[elticoviajero.]

Thank's you so much for the lesson, greenting from Costa Rica

[samimasamima]

Sir,
It is very important lesson thank you sir.

[rabiubalajafar]

I wish one I'll be able to speak fluently like native speakers 😊

[jackblack]

Well done, Adam! Would you please tell more about the usage of tenses?

[trynafew]

I thought about something like "having mastered that technique made it a lot easier for him to get the job done"

[fredylopez]

Hi Adam, how's it goin' ?.
Great video lesson Adam, that was an excellent Grammar lesson, I mean, those are different ways to say the same thing and the other usages of the word "having".
The best part of all is that I understood how to use that structure, thanks for the video Adam 👍.

[tiziano]

Having seen this video, i feel more confident

[NIKOSPRO]

congrats professore greetings from the island of Corfu GREECE

[SolomonDegefu]

Hi Mr Adam, I've been really impressed by your skills in English lesson. I’ve been wanting to improve my skills in passive infinitive and passive gerund area and I believe you have a lot of valuable insights. Would you be willing to share some of your knowledge ?
SOLOMON, Ethiopia 🇪🇹, Addis Ababa

[eavesdropenglish]

It is a bit of an odd structure compared to other uses of the perfect tense and past participle. Having watched your video and clear explanation, I can explain it more easily.

[SolomonDegefu]

Hi Mr Adam, I've been really impressed by your skills in English lesson. I’ve been wanting to improve my skills in gerund and infinitive in perfect and passive complex area and I believe you have a lot of valuable insights. Would you be willing to share some of your knowledge ?
SOLOMON, Ethiopia 🇪🇹, Addis Ababa

[sanghamitraroysarkar]

Please make videos on transformation of sentences

[VolfMark]

The "gerund phrase" is actually a non-finite (present participle) nominal clause which functions as the subject of the whole sentence.