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From an article in The Hindu:

An Integrated Textile Park (ITP) being developed at Edlapadu on Guntur-Chennai National Highway is expected to give the much-needed fillip to textile industry in Andhra Pradesh.

I do not understand the structure of this sentence, specifically the "being" part. To my knowledge "being" should be used only for Present and Past Continuous. I've googled around, but nothing came up.

3 Answers 3

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A noun phrase can be modified by a following participial clause, i.e. a clause introduced by a participle.

Examples:

A cat [climbing a tree] ...

A cat [attacked by a dog] ...

A man [smoking] ...

A building [being demolished with a wrecker ball] ...

As you see, both present participles (-ing) and past participles (-ed and various other formations) can be used in this construction. The modifying clause does not contain a finite verb (such as is). None of my examples is a sentence, as they all lack a main verb: they are more complex noun phrases, which could serve as subject or object (or other roles).

So the structure of your example is

[[An Integrated Textile Park (ITP)] [being developed at Edlapadu on Guntur-Chennai National Highway]] is expected to give the much-needed fillip to textile industry in Andhra Pradesh.

where the whole of the outer set of [ ] marks the subject. The verb in the participle is passive, so being developed as opposed to developing (which would be active).

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  • Does this this mean that the Park has been already developed completely (its developing finished in the past) or it's still under development? Jul 18, 2014 at 10:51
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    It means that it is still under development, because that is what the present participle means. The past participle (eg developed, or attacked in my second example) does not have that implication: the speaker is not concerned about whether the activity is still going on or not. Being developed functions as a passive present participle.
    – Colin Fine
    Jul 18, 2014 at 10:57
  • I'll amplify my previous comment: a past participle here usually means that the activity is finished, but doesn't always. Look at this picture of a cat attacked by a dog might show a fight going on, or might show a wounded cat after the attack. Watch this video of a cat attacked by a dog almost certainly shows a fight.
    – Colin Fine
    Jul 18, 2014 at 11:08
  • Interesting examples. Jul 18, 2014 at 11:36
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This is passive present continuous. The park has not finished development, it is being developed at the time of writing.

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  • Why did not they put "Park is being developed..." then? Jul 18, 2014 at 9:45
  • True, but only half of the answer. See my answer.
    – Colin Fine
    Jul 18, 2014 at 10:39
  • @RuslanGerasimov because that's not the point of the sentence. They're not saying it is being developed, they're saying the park that is being developed 'is expected to give the much-needed fillip to textile industry in Andhra Pradesh.'
    – user8543
    Jul 18, 2014 at 12:07
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It seems to me that it's correct grammatically. It means that Park is developed, and instead of "Park was developed and is expected..." or "Park has been developed and is expected.." they used "Park being developed at...on...is expected..."

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  • It is correct grammatically, but this answer does not address the point of the question.
    – Colin Fine
    Jul 18, 2014 at 10:42

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