For example: What is the difference between the meaning of "Health centers which conduct free medical check-ups..." and "Health centers conducting free medical check-ups..."? Thank you in advance.
2 Answers
[1] Health centers [which conduct free medical check-ups].
[2] Health centers [conducting free medical check-ups].
The difference is mainly a syntactic one.
Gerund-participial and past participial clauses as modifiers in NP structure are semantically similar to relative clauses. Leaving aside the progressive aspectuality in [2], the two constructions have similar meanings, though the subordinate modifying clauses are different.
In [1] the bracketed constituent belongs to the class of integrated relative clauses while that in [2] is a non-finite clause -- more specifically a gerund-participial clause.
Both sentences have the same meaning, but they differ structurally. The first one is a complex sentence with a relative clause /starting with 'which'/. The second one is a simple sentence with an attribute /expressed by a participal construction/.
answered Nov 16, 2018 at 4:30
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I wouldn't go along with that. "Conducting free medical check-ups" is a subordinate non-finite clause and hence the second example is also a complex one.– BillJCommented Nov 16, 2018 at 7:10
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I agree, there are two approaches to the status of the clause. I follow the one, according to which the clause consists of the subject and the predicate /finite verb/. The second one is accepted in the sense of the so called 'secondary predication'. Commented Nov 16, 2018 at 8:28