after doing / after having done (2025)

Hello.

Which one of theses possibilities is correct :

After doing the shopping, we went back home.
After having done the shopping, we went back home.

Is 'After doing the shopping' always right or do I have to use 'after having done the shopping' here ?

Thank you for your replies.

After doing-Used when the action was just completed

After having done-Used when the action was completed in the past

But I am not 100% on this so wait for another response.

The second sentence, although grammatically correct, would very rarely be used and I can't think, offhand, what the context would be in order to use it.

On a different note, I've always wondered why people say "back home". The word "back" is totally redundent. "After doing the shopping, we went home". There's absolutely no need to use "back".

I don't mind "having done" as a past participle, its fine... Throw an "after" before it and I think it becomes clumsy. I would use "once" instead, as in:

Once having done the shopping, we went back home.

Or leave "after" out all together.

I also have no problem with "back home" as long as one's starting place was from home.

I also have no problem with "back home" as long as one's starting place was from home.

Click to expand...

Neither do I, but as I have to drive some 50kms there and back, everytime I have a shopping list, I tend to say I am "going back home".

I've checked my English grammar book "Oxford press"

the right sentences in written English are:
1) DOING the shopping, we went back home.
2) HAVING DONE the shopping,we went back home.
3)AFTER DOING shopping, we went back home.

RULES:
a) When there are 2 short actions, one straight after the other, we can use an -ing form for the first action.
Opening the bottle, Mark poured the drinks (= he opened the bottle and then poured the drinks).

But we can use the perfect -ing form as well.

Having opened the bottle, Mark poured the drinks (= after opening the bottle, Mark poured the drinks).

b) IF EITHER OF THE ACTIONS IS LONG, WE MUST USE THE PERFECT.
HAVING PHOTOCOPIED all the papers, she put them back in the file.

The structures "1", "2", "3" are typical of

In SPOKEN ENGLISH , to talk about one action after another we use a sentence like this:
I opened the bottle and then poured the drinks.

In conclusion, in your own situation, the best forms are the number "2" and "3".

"Having done" is a perfect gerund, referring to completed action.
"After" refers to a time that follows.

After going shopping, we went back home. [We did some shopping then returned home.]
After having gone shopping, we went back home. [We completed (some) shopping then returned home.]

If "after doing" and "after having done" refer to the same instance(s) of the same definite action, they are equivalent and "after doing" is preferable because it flows better. In this context, I take "doing

shopping" as a definite action, executed one time:

After doing the shopping, we returned home. [We did (all) the shopping then returned home.] [The action is complete.]
After having done the shopping, we returned home. [Same meaning, but does not flow as well.]