Infinitive and gerund clauses
Shorten a clause without changing who did the work.
Infinitive clauses and time order
Prima di plus infinitive names an action before the main action. Dopo aver plus past participle makes an earlier completed action clear; senza plus infinitive names an action not done. In the examples here, the understood actor of the infinitive is the actor of the main clause. If the actors differ, keep an explicit clause instead of making the sentence misleading.
- Dopo aver letto i moduli, Giada ha scritto la sintesi.· After reading the forms, Giada wrote the summary.
- Prima di presentare i risultati, Giada ha ricontrollato i totali.· Before presenting the results, Giada checked the totals again.
- Senza misurare il rumore, Giada non può descriverne la variazione.· Without measuring noise, Giada cannot describe its change.
- Prima di prolungare la prova, il consiglio deve chiarire che cosa conterà.· Before extending the trial, the council must define what it will count.
Gerund clauses and a clear actor
The present gerund can express a simultaneous action or a method: confrontando i registri, Giada ha trovato una differenza. The subject understood for confrontando is Giada. Do not write «Confrontando i registri, gli accessi sono aumentati»: the entries cannot compare the logs. Name Giada in the main clause and keep the result limited to observed entries.
- Confrontando gli otto registri, Giada ha rilevato quaranta accessi in più.· Comparing the eight logs, Giada found forty more entries.
- Leggendo i questionari, ha distinto risposte positive e assenza di cambiamenti.· Reading the forms, she distinguished positive answers from no-change answers.
- Controllando i due totali, Giada ha corretto un errore nella bozza.· Checking the two totals, Giada corrected an error in the draft.
- Riassumendo le fonti, Giada ha mantenuto i limiti del campione.· Summarising the sources, Giada kept the sample limits.