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A paid year off: rest or research? Present participle clauses for time and reason

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches present participle clauses through sabbaticals and Harvard's 1880 rule that let professors take a year of leave on half pay.

Grammar
An -ing clause in place of when, as or because + a subject (Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee.), Being for be, not + -ing for the negative and one subject for both clauses.
Topic
Harvard's 1880 leave rule and what a sabbatical is for, with words such as recharge, postpone, substitute and workaholic.
Activities
An explainer to read, an office argument and a reader's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a time-off chat, phrases to sort and a debate wheel.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: when did you last switch off?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: rest, work and a year awayVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: half pay, once in seven years

    • Look at the picture: an old college hallPictureUnlock
    • Read Leona's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: rest is research for the brain?

    • Listen to Leona and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Barton's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee

    • Study the scheme: Feeling tired, …Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the -ing form of the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Sort the sentences into the correct columns: one subject or not?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: how Leona got a week offDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: three days off, please

    • Choose the right replies: ask your manager for time offChatTry it
    • Sort the phrases into the correct columns: polite or too direct?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answer: rest or research?Spin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the -ing form of the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Leona answers BartonChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Archibald asks for time offDrag and dropUnlock

34 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • sabbatical
  • half pay
  • substitute
  • policy
  • manuscript
  • time off
  • swamped
  • workaholic
  • well-rested

Grammar: present participle clauses for time and reason

A present participle clause is an -ing clause that does the job of a clause with when, as or because: Because she felt tired, Leona made more coffee becomes Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee. It's common in articles and stories. Learners cut the full clause down to an -ing form, then check that both clauses share one subject.

Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee.

An -ing clause can say when or why something happens. It is shorter than a clause with when, as or because, and it is common in articles and stories.

Time: an -ing clause for when or as

For two actions at the same time, or one right after the other, the -ing clause replaces when + subject + verb: Walking into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard. Opening the report, Isaiah found the rule. The -ing form stays the same for every person.

From a full clause to an -ing clause

MeaningFull clause-ing clause
time: at the same time (when, as)When she walked into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard.Walking into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard.
time: one action right after anotherWhen he opened the report, Isaiah found the rule.Opening the report, Isaiah found the rule.
reason (because, as)Because she felt tired, Leona made more coffee.Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee.
reason with beAs he is a night owl, Isaiah works best after dark.Being a night owl, Isaiah works best after dark.
reason, negativeBecause she didn't know the answer, Harper asked Leona.Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona.

Every person: the -ing form never changes

PersonTimeReason
IWalking to work, I saw the river.Feeling tired, I went home early.
youWalking to work, you saw the river.Feeling tired, you went home early.
heWalking to work, he saw the river.Feeling tired, he went home early.
sheWalking to work, she saw the river.Feeling tired, she went home early.
itHitting the desk, it turned around.Feeling its battery run low, it went back to its dock.
weWalking to work, we saw the river.Feeling tired, we went home early.
theyWalking to work, they saw the river.Feeling tired, they went home early.

Reason, Being and not + -ing

An -ing clause can also give a reason: Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee means she made it because she felt tired. Be becomes Being (Being a night owl, Isaiah works best after dark), and the negative puts not in front: Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona.

How to make it

Drop when, as or because and the subject, and use the -ing form: Because she felt tired → Feeling tired. For a negative, put not first: Not knowing the answer, … For be, use Being: Being a night owl, … The clause usually comes first, with a comma. A reason can also come after the main clause: Leona stayed late, wanting to finish the draft.

At Harvard and at The Why Desk

  • Believing a more generous policy would help, the Corporation changed the rules in 1880.
  • Traveling in India in 1889, Lanman bought hundreds of books and manuscripts.
  • Coming back rested, people have better ideas, Isaiah says.
  • Knowing every deadline by heart, Leona can't disappear for a year.
  • Seeing a busy month ahead, Leona always postpones her vacation.
  • Feeling its battery run low, Pascal goes back to its dock.

One subject for both clauses

The -ing clause borrows the subject of the main clause, so Walking into the office, Pascal hit the desk means Pascal was walking. The wrong main subject leaves the participle dangling: Walking into the office, the whiteboard caught Leona's eye says a whiteboard walked.

One subject for both clauses

The -ing clause has no subject of its own, so it takes the subject of the main clause. Walking into the office, Pascal hit the desk means that Pascal was walking! If Leona was walking, say: Walking into the office, Leona saw Pascal hit the desk. And never: Walking into the office, the whiteboard caught Leona's eye. (A whiteboard can't walk.)

Common mistakes

Besides the dangling subject, three slips come up: Being wanted to rest, Want to keep his mornings free, Isaiah works late and Don't knowing the answer. Add -ing to the verb itself: Wanting to rest, Wanting to keep, Not knowing.

  • Walking into the office, Pascal hit the desk. (Leona was walking.)

    Walking into the office, Leona saw Pascal hit the desk.

    the -ing clause and the main clause need the same subject

  • Being wanted to rest, Leona booked a week off.

    Wanting to rest, Leona booked a week off.

    want is the verb: just add -ing

  • Want to keep his mornings free, Isaiah works late.

    Wanting to keep his mornings free, Isaiah works late.

    use the -ing form, not the base form

  • Don't knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona.

    Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona.

    the negative is not + -ing

Try the participle clauses exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 20 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • turn a time clause into an -ing clause: When she walked into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard → Walking into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard.
  • give a reason with an -ing clause: Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee. Being a night owl, Isaiah works best after dark.
  • make the negative with not + -ing: Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona, not Don't knowing.
  • keep one subject for both clauses: Walking into the office, Leona saw Pascal hit the desk, never Walking into the office, the whiteboard caught Leona's eye.
  • ask a manager for time off: Knowing how busy March is, I'd rather not leave before the big project ends.

Lesson 6 is the second lesson of Work-life balance, unit 2 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society, and the course's first lesson on participle clauses. It shortens the because and when clauses of A2.1 lessons 28 and 32. Lesson 7 adds having + past participle, and lesson 8 keeps the conjunction: after marching. An argument about why people take time off is full of reasons, and giving a reason is one natural job for an -ing clause.

Students open boxes of questions about rest, long vacations and workaholics, then learn twelve words, from recharge and postpone to half pay and well-rested, with pictures and audio. They read Leona's explainer on Harvard's 1880 leave rule, then hear Isaiah show her a spreadsheet of her vacation days, and Barton, who teaches history at a college in Massachusetts, argue for rest; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a sort of correct and dangling sentences. In the speaking chapter, students ask Sally, their manager, for three days off in a chat, sort requests into polite and too direct, and spin a wheel of debate questions.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game; then -ing choices and gaps in new sentences, a quiz on the correct sentence and word order; then Leona's answer to Barton with forms to choose and Archibald's email asking for a week off, with words to drag in.

Grammar:
present participle clauses · -ing clauses for time · -ing clauses for reason · not + -ing · dangling participles
Topic:
sabbaticals · Harvard's 1880 leave rule · Charles Lanman · work-life balance · rest or research · asking for time off · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Shorten a full clause on the board: Because she felt tired, Leona made more coffee. Students cross out because and she, change felt to feeling, then do the same with a when clause.
  • Ask what a year off is for before the reading: rest, travel or study? Students then read to find the four aims in Harvard's 1880 rule and say which side each aim supports.
  • Play the argument twice: first for who says rest and who says research, then for each -ing clause, such as Seeing a busy month ahead. Students say each one as a full clause with when or because.
  • Make the dangler the joke: read out Walking into the office, the whiteboard caught Leona's eye and ask who was walking. Students fix it, then write a dangler of their own for a partner to fix.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6 · you're hereA paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8Why is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14Bat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18A lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20Volunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24The comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

What are participle clauses?
Participle clauses are short clauses built on a participle, with no subject of their own. A present participle clause uses the -ing form for time or reason: Feeling tired, Leona made more coffee. Others use having + past participle or a past participle alone, and later lessons of the same course cover those. The B2 lesson A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai starts with the -ing kind, through Harvard's 1880 leave rule.
How do you form a present participle clause?
Drop the conjunction and the subject, then add -ing: When he opened the report, Isaiah found the rule becomes Opening the report, Isaiah found the rule. Be becomes Being, and the negative is not + -ing. The clause usually comes first, followed by a comma, though a reason can also follow the main clause: Leona stayed late, wanting to finish the draft. The scheme in A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai shows each step.
What are some examples of participle clauses?
Five from A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai: Believing a more generous policy would help, the Corporation changed the rules in 1880. Traveling in India in 1889, Lanman bought hundreds of books and manuscripts. Seeing a busy month ahead, Leona always postpones her vacation. Being a night owl, Isaiah works best after dark. Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona. Each -ing clause shares the subject of its main clause.
What's the difference between a participle clause and a gerund?
Both use the -ing form, but they do different jobs. A gerund works as a noun: in Walking is good for you, walking is the subject. A participle clause works like a time or reason clause and takes its subject from the main clause: Walking into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard means when Leona walked in. A paid year off: rest or research?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, teaches the second kind.
What is a dangling participle?
It's an -ing clause attached to the wrong subject: Walking into the office, the whiteboard caught Leona's eye says the whiteboard walked. The fix is to make the walker the subject: Walking into the office, Leona saw the whiteboard. In A paid year off: rest or research?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, students sort sentences into correct and dangling ones, and some wrong replies in its chat dangle too.
Is it “not knowing” or “don't knowing”?
It's not knowing: an -ing clause makes its negative with not alone, never with don't or didn't. Because she didn't know the answer, Harper asked Leona becomes Not knowing the answer, Harper asked Leona. The same goes for Not wanting to miss it, I'm asking early, a right reply in the chat of A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai, where Don't wanting is the trap.
What is a sabbatical, and where did it start?
A sabbatical is a long break from work to rest or study. A federal report calls Harvard the first university with a formal sabbatical-leave policy: on May 31, 1880, it let professors take a year of leave on half pay, once in seven years at most, for “health, rest, study, or the prosecution of original work.” The word probably comes from the Hebrew for rest. A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai tells the story.
How do I teach participle clauses to B2 students?
Start from full clauses students can already write, with when and because, and shorten them step by step. Teach the one-subject rule early, with a dangler to laugh at. A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai goes from Leona's explainer and her argument with Isaiah to the scheme, an -ing gap-fill and four more drills, among them the story of how Leona finally took a week off.
What's a good game for practicing participle clauses?
Try “Finish my sentence”: one student starts with an -ing clause (Feeling hungry, …, Not knowing the way, …), and the next finishes it with a subject that can really do the action. A dangler earns a laugh and a second try. The wheel in A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai asks things like Coming back from a long break, what would you change about your work or studies?
What's good homework for participle clauses?
Good homework checks the form and the subject together: choices like Not wanting, Don't wanting or Not want, -ing gaps in new sentences, and a quiz that hides danglers among correct sentences. All ten homework tasks in A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai check themselves, and the last is an email that asks a manager for a week off.
How do you practice participle clauses one-to-one?
Talk about a busy week, then retell it with -ing clauses: Feeling tired on Thursday, I went to bed at nine. The teacher asks Why? and When? to draw out more. The chat in A paid year off: rest or research? on edio.ai needs no partner: the student asks Sally, a manager, for three days off, and each wrong reply hides a slip like Don't wanting to miss it.
Are there interactive exercises for participle clauses?
Yes. A paid year off: rest or research?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, plays three of its parts on this page without an account: Leona and Isaiah's argument about her vacation days; an -ing gap-fill built from words in brackets; and a chat that asks a manager for time off. The others need an account.
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