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However, in S3 it is not clear who has the good level of English: the students or Prof.
Rossi.

S3. *Professor Rossi teaches the students having a good level of English.

S4 clarifies that it is the students that have good English. In S5 Prof. Rossi is the
subject of both verbs ( teach, have ), so in this case we need to change the structure
of the sentence and use since, because or something similar (S6).

S4. Professor Rossi teaches the students that have a good level of English.
S5. Professor Rossi teaches the students since he has a good level of English.
S6. Professor Rossi, who has a good level of English, teaches the students.

6.13 - ing form vs. subject + verb

In clear unambiguous writing, verbs should be immediately preceded by their subject.

S1. *If you take your young daughter in the car, don’t let her put her head out of the window
while driving.
S2. *After consuming twenty bottles of wine, the conference chair presented the awards to
the fifty best PhD students.

In S1 it initially seems that driving refers to the young daughter. This is because the
person located in the phrase nearest to the word driving is the girl not you . In S2 it
seems that the conference chairperson consumed 20 bottles of wine, whereas pre-
sumably it was the students who did the drinking. The sentences should thus be
rewritten:

S3. I f you take your young daughter in the car, don’t let her put her head out of the window
while you are driving.

S4. After the fifty best PhD students had consumed twenty bottles of wine, the conference
chair presented them with the awards.
In S3 and S4 the -ing form has been replaced with an active form of the verb ( are
driving, had consumed ) preceded by the subject ( you, students ). If you use an active
form you will be forced to use a subject and this will make your writing clearer.

In S5 below, there is an initial ambiguity as the order of words makes it seem that
psocoptera read books! ( Psocoptera are an order of wingless insects that attack paper).

S5. *We cannot understand how psocoptera survive by reading books alone. Instead we
need to …