Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Passive -ing forms

 From an exercise:
She vaguely remembers that she was knocked down by a motorcycle.
She has vague memories of ..............................
The answer to this entry is:
"being knocked out by a motorcycle"
When I was doing the exercise I thought of these two possible answers:
the first one was the same as above while the second was "having been
knocked by a motorcycle".
After thinking for a while  about which one of them was the best in that
particular case, I chose
the latter.
Do you think it is correct too?
Thanks.

 Do you think it is correct too?
I don't think it's impossible, but I think most people would say the
official answer.

 knocked by a motorcycle".
L'inglese non ama le forme troppo complesse, IMHO :)

 official answer.
I finally chose the perfect form because I thought: "the verb refers to 
a past
action(knocked out) affecting the present(now she has vague memories), 
so this is better" :-)
Thanks Adam.

 L'inglese non ama le forme troppo complesse, IMHO :)
"I remember having been X" seems possible.
"I remember being X" suggests the experience of X itself is in my
mind. In the case
of a car accident, that seems pretty likely.
"I remember having been X" ... maybe it's more the aftermath of X than
X itself
that you recall?
"I remember being successful" vs "I remember having been successful".
I'd say in the latter
case you're remembering a time when the success was already in your
past. In the former
you're remembering the success itself. Do any of the other native
speakers think
this is it?

 that you recall?
Actually, maybe this is nonsense. Hmm.


I think there is a very subtle difference.
In the former case the action could still be in progress, whilst in the 
latter it has already ended. But such a distinction would seem 
preposterous in such a situation, so I'd say that the first form is 
preferable because it sounds way less stiff than the second (according 
to my non-native-American-English ear!).
Kiuhnm

Adam Atkinson wrote:

Made sense to me :)
Anche (correggetemi se sbaglio)...
A.
The goods were unloaded. Do you remember that?
Well, yes, I have vague memories of the goods being unloaded.
B.
The goods had been unloaded before the workers left the port. Do you
remember that?
Well, yes, I have vague memories of the goods having been unloaded (before
the workers left the port).

Qualche frase da Google Books:
"You seem all grown up to me but your mum probably has too many memories of
you being helpless or falling over or getting yourself in trouble."
"But then recently l have memories of him having a drink, little flashes of
it."
"She has vague memories of her mother leaning towards her, screaming at her
and  trying to throttle her."
"Alyssa has vague memories of him taking a belt to some of her brothers
once or twice, but mostly she remembers wishing he would just go away..."
"I have only vague memories of him, of sitting on his lap when I was very
small, of his white beard, of his deep voice. "
===
"There lingered along in the recollection of the family some vague memories
of her having tried to assert an authority over Celia's comings and
goings..."
"Nadean 'recovered' what her therapist claimed were repressed memories of
her  having been in a satanic cult, of eating babies, of being raped, ..."


had, not have
Joe from Massachusetts

 wrote in message 
news:c7416ac7-d3ec-4788...@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

Yes .
Though it's not a clear-cut distinction .
In the original sentences 'she remembered being knocked down' focuses on her 
remembering the accident itself , 'she remembered having been knocked down' 
takes you to a point at which she remembers the fact that the accident 
occurred (rather a clumsy way of putting it ...).
But I think people might often use the first for the second .
Mike