Writing Question - Present vs. Past Participle

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi there. Just one question:</p>

<p>In 1850 Jim Beckwourth, a Black American explorer, (discovered) (in the) mountains of the Sierra Nevada a pass (soon becoming) an important (gateway to) California gold-rush country.</p>

<p>Obviously, (soon becoming) is not correct. CB says that "becoming" is a present participle and this doesn't fit with the past tense of the main verb "discovered". Is this always the case? So is a present participle in the context of an action, incident, whatever in the past never appropriate? </p>

<p>In this case, could I use a past participle to correct the sentence?
Or are past participles only used in combination with a form of have/has?</p>

<ul>
<li>In 1850 Jim Beckwourth, a Black American explorer, discovered in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada a pass soon become (3rd form) an important gateway to California gold-rush country.</li>
</ul>

<p>Or do I have to use the past tense?</p>

<ul>
<li>In 1850 Jim Beckwourth, a Black American explorer, discovered in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada a pass (which) soon became an important gateway to California gold-rush country.</li>
</ul>

<p>One can omit "which", right? But if I did not omit "which", it would make not difference?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance. I just want to understand how to use present and past participles properly.</p>

2

<p>Another question:</p>

<p>Is “plus” when used as a conjunction to replace “and” always considered as an error?</p>

3

<p>I believe the best way to fix it is:</p>

<p>In 1850 Jim Beckwourth, a Black American explorer, discovered in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada a pass (which would) soon (become) an important gateway to California gold-rush country. </p>

<p>The “would” shows that something is going to happen after a specific point in the past, as is the case here. </p>

<p>A present participle (usually verb + ing) is a word that is based in a verb, yet functions as a modifier (in contrast to a gerundive which has the same form, yet functions as a noun eg “Sleeping is useful”). An example where a participle is used as a modifier is, “He is a sleeping person”. It can also be used to show that something is ongoing and has not been completed, eg “I am running right now”.</p>

<p>A past participle indicates something has been completed previously eg “They have killed me”. It can also be used as a modifier (“My sickened stomach is not hungry”) or to indicate passive voice (“I have been killed”).</p>

<p>Plus can only be informally used as a conjunction, so I would assume a sentence like, “My car plus my motorcycle are both fast” is incorrect.</p>