ABSTRACT
We need a girl who speaks French
They had a box containing several books
That's a reply amounting to a refusal
The gerund is possible only when there isaverbin the main clause to which it can refer, e.g. me escribi6 pidiendome que fuera a verla '(s)he wrote a letter asking me to go and see her'. El cartero trajo una carta pidiendo dinero 'the postman brought a letter asking for money' is therefore correct only if pidiendo refers to trajo ... and not to carta, i.e. only if the postman is asking for money. But this rule is broken: (a) In captions to pictures:
Das 747 siendo preparados para el despegue EI Avante public6 mi foto quitdndome los
aretes (A. Mastretta, Mex., dialogue) Two 747s being prepared for take-off Avante published a photo of me taking
off my earrings (lit. ear 'hoops') (b) Afterverbs meaning 'hear', 'imagine', 'see', 'find', usually to show that the action is actually in progress. See 20.7 for more details. (c) In the exceptional cases of the adjectives ardiendo 'burning' and hirviendo 'boiling'. See 4.4 for discussion.
