This article compares the English adjunctive ing-clause with its Estonian equivalents by examining their semantic and syntactic functions. The adjunctive ing-clause is one among several syntactic uses for the -ing verb form, and, as an adjunct, it can serve various semantic functions. English and Estonian grammar concepts of clauses, complements and adjuncts, and semantic functions of subordinate clauses are compared to establish their similarities and to find the functional basis for equivalence. Contrastive functional analysis is conducted on parallel corpora based on an English fiction text, George Orwell’s “1984”, and its Estonian translation. The analysis reveals connections between semantic functions of the adjunctive ing-clause and the form of its equivalents, as well as the scope of the syntactic overlap. It is shown that the main equivalents are the converb clause, coordinate clause and adverbial clause, while the less common absolute clause, relative clause and nominalisation appear in more specific circumstances.

The Estonian converb clause is a syntactic match to the adjunctive ing-clause serving any semantic function, but it doesn’t appear with an explicit subject and it can’t appear with adpositions. The coordinate clause has limited overlap in syntactic functions and it mostly appears if the adjunctive ing-clause comes at the end of the main clause. The adverbial clause covers most of the semantic functions and is thus a versatile equivalent. Nominalisation is mostly used when the converb clause cannot be used because the semantic function requires an explicit marker. The absolute clause appears if the meaning of holding or wearing verbs is expressed through a place phrase or when the subject is a part of the main clause subject.

Artiklis võrdlen inglise vaba ing-tarindi ja selle eesti vastete süntaktilisi ja semantilisi funktsioone ilukirjanduslauseis. Inglise ing-verbivormi kasutatakse nii vabas laiendis kui teistes süntaktilistes funktsioonides; vaba laiendina on ing-tarindil ka mitmeid semantilisi funktsioone. Kõrvutan inglise ja eesti grammatikakäsitlusi, et leida vastete grammatilised lähtekohad. Kontrastiivse funktsioonianalüüsi abil toon välja, kuidas inglise vaba ing-tarindi eri semantilised funktsioonid eesti vastetes avalduvad ning mis on eri vastete esinemise tingimused. paralleelkorpuse analüüs näitab, et vaba ing-tarindi peamised eesti vasted on konverbitarind, adverbiaallause ja rindosalause, harvem ka absoluuttarind, nominalisatsioon ja relatiivlause. Valikuid mõjutasid subjekti eksplitsiitsus, prepositsioon ja semantilise funktsiooni informatiivsus, aga näiteks ka verbi tähendusklass, subjektide seosed ja sõnajärg.