Use of "having been" or "having" in SC senctences..

Question

hi all..

Please help me with the issue. I am unable to judge the use of "having" /" having been" in sentences as correct or incorrect, and as a result have got a habit of simply rejecting the choices with the word. Now its pinching me again and again. So I want to finish the issue once for all.

So I request anyone "HAVING" confidence in the same to please explain the usage on GMAT.

Thanks in advance...

DmitryFarberMPrep · Accepted Answer

"Having been" is really just a specific example of the "having + past participle" construction.

Having eaten, we retired to the living room.
Having painted the entire house himself, he needed a bath.

This is a perfectly good usage, but you won't see it often on the GMAT. What you're likely to see is something like this:

The movie having been shown first was not funny.

What does this mean? If we are trying to specify our subject, we should say "the movie that was shown first," or even just "the movie shown first." The only way that "having been" would add value here would be as an adverbial modifier:

The movie, having been shown first, set the tone for the entire festival.

Here we're saying that the movie set the tone *as a result* of its being shown first, so the "having been" modifier makes sense.

Another troublesome usage looks like this:

I talked with a co-worker having a break at the same time that I was.

Here, "having" is used to introduce a noun modifier. In fact, everything after "having" is part of the noun modifier, and that's the problem! We can't say "I was" because there's no verb for "was" to refer back to. This is part of the general trouble the GMAT gets us into with -ing words--being, having, flourishing, doubling, etc. They can be used in many different ways, but readers often treat them incorrectly as verbs, when there are several other ways they can be used. Take a look:

1) Verb: Are you having a good time?
2) Noun: Having an MBA will improve my resume.
3) Noun modifier: The man having a heart attack was on the 7th floor.
4) Adverb: My daughter stayed in her room having a fit.

So there are lots of legitimate ways of using having, and we could create an identical list for other -ing words, but you're right to be nervous. The GMAT tends to use these words in trap answers. Don't cross off an answer just because you see -ing, but exercise caution and think about what purpose the word/phrase is serving. Also, "having" and "being" are probably more common in wrong answers than in right ones, so if you're left guessing, pick something else.

Vercules · Answer

Hi confusedsoul,

Good news is that, yes, most of the GMAT SC questions which use "having been" (not "having") are incorrect. There are only a few applications of "having been"

"having been" is also called perfect gerund. It is used to express a condition that no longer exists at the time of stating.

for example -    Having been a doctor's husband I know the advantages of a qualified wife  ->   I am no longer married to a doctor

"having" is just the ing+verb form of the verb "to have" and very commonly used in participle clauses ( having + past participle)

The use of "having" is pretty common and should not be rejected as frequently as "having been".

Having done my work, I played video games for a while  --> after finishing my work I played

Hope this helps,
Vercules

BrainLab · Answer

Here you can find all the Information regarding    Having + participle     https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/sentences/participle-clauses

vipulgoel · Answer

hi Expert,
 please specify the difference b/w ,having and having . i am confused does ,having is used as all other ",ing" modifiers which modifies the preceding clause , or it(,having) just modifies the preceding noun
And
In the given sc if it would be 
just having ( without comma) then the usage would be right ??

Industrialization and modern methods of insect control have improved the standard of living around the globe while at the same time they have introduced some 100,000 dangerous chemical pollutants, having gone virtually unregulated since they were developed more than 50 years ago.

nacho93 · Answer

This is such a great explanation, thank you! I was curious, how exactly would you re-write the incorrect example?

Mco100 · Answer

Having ends in -ing - it can either be a gerund (a verb serving as a noun) or the conjugated portion of the verb to have

Consider whether the action in the main clause of the verb follows the action listed in the dependent clause (i.e the clause with having)

Note have and has serve as helping verbs when reporting events in the past that happened in sequence.

He had eaten when we arrived -> sequence of events 
Having drank a lot, she went to the bathroom. -> She drank AND THEN went to the bathroom

Having can not be alone in a sentence and must help a secondary verb, also there must be an independent clause which contains the working verb of the sentence 
Unless Having is serving as a gerund, connoting "having" as the subject of the sentence

See : Having, is one of the most sensational feelings in life.

DmitryFarber  how did I do?

jabhatta2 · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber

You mention the sentence in purple is wrong because "I Was" does not have object verb to refer too.

What about a sentence without "I was" however

I talked with a co-worker   having a break at the same time .

Is this wrong ? I don't think so but wanted to confirm

jabhatta2 · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber  - you mention the sentence in red is wrong. Is there a reason specifically why this is wrong ?

Would another sentence (i made up) with the same construction really be wrong ?

John   having slept for 15 hours   is drowsy.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Use of "having been" or "having" in SC senctences..

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Use of "having been" or "having" in SC senctences..

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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