Every once in a while, I run across a newish writer who has been told to rid her manuscript of -ing words. Sure, you want to use them correctly and moderation, but to ban them all together is ludicrous. Not all -ing words are alike. Here is a brief tutorial explaining all the different types of -ing words and how best to use them.

VERB TENSE

Past progressive: I was going to the store when Hortencia smacked me upside the head with her Coach bag.
Past perfect progressive: I had been wanting to buy a Coach bag for a long time.

Present progressive: I am going to buy a Coach bag as soon as I sell my 20 acres of rutabagas.
Present perfect progressive: I have been growing rutabagas for as long as I can remember.

PARTICIPLE — A participle is a verb that is used as an ADJECTIVE. It usually ends in -ing or -ed.

The barking dog kept me awake all night.

Frightened, I pressed my back against the wall.

*** You need to be sure you place your participle or participle phrase NEXT to the word it modifies. Otherwise, you’ll have a dangling participle or misplaced modifier, and people will laugh at you. ****

GERUND — a verb ending in -ing that is used as a noun. I’ve already given examples above.

GERUNDS and PARTICIPLES are examples of VERBALS. A verbal is a verb that moonlights as some other part of speech. The other well known VERBAL is an INFINITIVE. An infinitive consists of the word “to” and a verb. INFINITIVES may be used as a noun, adjective or adverb. You shouldn’t split infinitives — that means to jam some other word between the to and the verb.

For more information go here:  OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab

If you still aren’t convinced of the importance of -ing words, please read the poem below.