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I am confused about using 'being' in the middle of the sentences. For example I saw in an article in which 'being' was used like this:

However, the evidence points to placebo effects being more important than any neuro-pharmacological ones.

In that sentence why 'to be' was not used? What is the gramer rule used there? Is this a special structure?

Another sentence:

...... and we feel that incorporating them can help to broaden the scope of questions being examined.

In this sentence, 'being examined' seems to be reduction of relative clause, if so, why not used just 'questions examined'.

Any response would be appreciated.

Omer
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  • [Placebo effects being more important than any neuro-pharmacological ones] is what (ie the situation that) the evidence points to. A simpler sentence is 'John being infected is what the evidence points to' / 'The evidence points to John being infected'. This involves the ACC-ing construction. – Edwin Ashworth May 05 '20 at 14:56
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    In your example "being" is not an infinitive. "Being" here is a gerund which is the object of the preposition "to." – Paul May 05 '20 at 15:03
  • It's not clear how you think to be should be used instead. Neither placebo effects to be or placebo effects be would be grammatical if directly substituted into the existing sentence. What is your proposed alternative to what you've already quoted? – Jason Bassford May 05 '20 at 16:37
  • @JasonBassford Thanks so much for every responses. Mr Bassford, what made me think to use to be instead of being that it is unusual for me confronting 'being' without any tense structure such as ' it is being used'. If this sentence was expressed like ' evidence points that placebo effect is more important than...', it would be easiar to understand its structure. No one cared about second sentence, this is same as the first one? – – Omer May 05 '20 at 21:06
  • @Omer Actually, you can replace being in the second sentence with to be and it would be grammatical—unlike in the first sentence. (Although the meaning would change.) In the first sentence, you could replace being with that are. Although, again, the meaning would change. But [verb]ing does mean something different than to [verb]. – Jason Bassford May 05 '20 at 22:31
  • @JasonBassford pardon me not understanding exactly. Am I true if I assume 'being examined' as a reduction of relative clause (the scope of questions which are being examined) in the second sentence? If not, I struggle to comprehend grammatically why is 'being' used? Thank you in advance – Omer May 06 '20 at 12:00
  • Does this answer your question? "...his parents' dream of *him* achieving a Cambridge degree." What is the function of "him" here?. Similarly, "...his parents' dream of him being a Cambridge scholar." – Edwin Ashworth May 06 '20 at 12:00
  • @EdwinAshworth, thank you for your another help, is this same as the 'placebo effect' in my first sentence? I have learnt from grammer books this structure as after possesive adjective we use gerund (ing). – Omer May 06 '20 at 12:07
  • @EdwinAshworth Also there is another confusing sentence e.q. It was careless of me to leave the keys in the house. Why here 'to'? – Omer May 06 '20 at 12:11
  • Look at John Lawler's answer at the duplicate, explaining the two constructions, and his comment that both are correst, in spite of what some grammar books might say. Also, look at my answer there explaining that there can be different emphases / shades of meaning ( him V-ing vs his V-ing) which can inform/dictate choice. // That's a totally different question. Covered here. – Edwin Ashworth May 06 '20 at 13:48

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