The first thing he having done being...



'One, of course, is the great Private Park, and, of course, the greatest thing about it is that it's no longer private: the first thing which the King-Emperor having done, upon succeeding the reclusive Mazzimilian the Mad on the throne, being to throw open the Private Park to the pulic.' -- Avram Davidson, _Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman_

I can neither read that 'having' as correct, nor find an alternative, at least without a major rewrite. This is one of the Transbalkania stories, in which I don't know if Avram uses deliberately non-standard language as he's wont whenever possible.

In general terms, how do you apply the is -> being transformation to a pluperfect? Is it the way above?

is -> being
will X -> will be Xing
was -> ?
had Xparticiple -> ? having Xparticiple ?
--
António Marques
.


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