Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Jerry Chen]

Hello,

As the sentence says, "She was riding her motorcycle with her hair blowing in the wind." For most EFL students whose first language is Chinese, sentences like this is hard to understand. They wonder why "blowing" is used here. They think the hair is blown "by" the wind, so it should be "...with her hair blown in the wind." Actually, it's not. How to explain to EFL students that we should use "with her hair blowing in the wind" instead of "with her hair blown in the wind." The same question is like "A group of teenagers are dancing with loud music playing (but not played).

Also, in this sentence, "We found pieces of straw stuck in the tree." Is the word "stuck" here an adjective or a past participle? Is it "Pieces of straw stuck in the tree" or "Pieces of straw were stuck in the tree"? If the former is acceptable, then why isn't it like this, "We found pieces of straw sticking in the tree."?

I need native English teachers' help.

Thank you very much!!

[Mister Micawber]

.
RE blowing, you would be best to simply consider that these are two of many different meaning for the word:

verb: cause to move by means of an air current
verb: be in motion due to some air or water current