Sentence Correction

Rajat Khandelwal wrote:1. A cannon shooting dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful to
demonstrate what kind of damage can result when jets fly into a flock
of large .

2 . A cannon that shoots dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful
in demonstrating what kind of damage can result when jets fly into a
flock of large.

which one is right?


I think that second one is right. In first one, present participle
phrase indicates ongoing action with respect to the main action of the
principal clause. hence, it indicates that the cannon is still
shooting dead chickens ......Because the present participle used here
does not indicate when the action happen , it only shares whether the
action has been done or not.

had it been......

1.A cannon shooting dead chickens at airplanes proved helpful to
demonstrate what kind of damage can result when jets fly into a flock
of large .

It would have been right. As it indicates that the shooting
..........remains during the time when cannon proved helpful...i.e.
both actions coexist..

it means we can not use present participle when the main verb of the cluase is in present perfect?

Rajat Khandelwal wrote:And....the past participle is used to indicate action prior to that of the main verb.

Here is the sentence..

The decision by one of the nation's largest banks to admit to $3 billion in potential losses on foreign loans could mean less lending by commercial banks to developing countries and increased pressure on misgovernment lenders to supply the funds.


A few intransitive verbs have past participles that can be used as adjectives with active meanings, especially before nouns. Like "increased " .

It means that the pressure that has increased. It means that the present perfect tense indicates the action , increase, in the past , but the pressure to increase in the future i.e. after the decision made by the nation's largest bank.

So how can we use increased pressure?

tomada wrote:Is it reasonable to insert "could mean" before "increased pressure" ? At least this would be harmonious with "could mean less lending".