In the process of answering this question on ELL, I hit upon something I can't explain.
The sentence in question is:
Who is responsible for leaving the window open?
I think anyone hearing that sentence would think:
- A window was opened at some point in the past
- Someone had an opportunity and/or obligation to close the window
- That person is at fault and will be held accountable for their negligence once identified
I believe the -ing form of “leaving” forms a gerund clause used as the subject, and I came to wonder if it wouldn't be “more correct” (proscriptively, say) to use the perfect aspect:
Who is responsible for having left the window open?
I'm not sure if it matters, but just to be clear:
- The speaker is inquiring about a present state of culpability
- The events in question are entirely in the past (the window is closed)
I'm forced to ask this as one question because I don't know which part of it is responsible(!) for shaping how the other parts should be. I am very open to reforming the question if someone with an idea of how to make this more focused and useful suggests a change that is supported by others.
No comments:
Post a Comment