Different Types of “ing” Words — and Which Ones to Avoid
By: Karen Degroot Carter
Tags: Writing Well, Editing, Grammar, Improvement, Writing

Different Types of “ing” Words — and Which Ones to Avoid

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In my post “Beyond Active vs. Passive Voice,” I provided a number of tips for tightening up your writing, including shifting from the passive to the active voice when possible. This means to simply make sure the subject of a sentence precedes the object as in “John drove the car” instead of “The car was driven by John.” Since the passive voice often sounds a bit clunky, it’s usually easy to avoid.

I also suggested avoiding using words that end in “ing,” which I admit I’ve always thought indicated a passive style of writing. As Edward Robson, PhD has pointed out to me, though, “ing” words “are seldom passive voice, which usually ends in -ed, as in ‘the bicycle was pedaled.’” He added that “ing” words “can be gerunds, participles, or progressive verb forms,” at which point my brain pretty much shut down. So I thought it made sense to look further into “ing” words and what they’re all about.

Gerunds

Turns out “ing” words are gerunds when they act like nouns as in “I like walking, jumping, and singing.” Simply put, a gerund is made up of a verb (walk, jump, sing) and “ing,” but it’s only a gerund when it acts like a noun. These types of “ing” words do not slow down the pace of your writing. In the example above, “like” is very active, and “I like walking” is just as direct as “I like to walk.”

Participles

Participles are a bit more complicated, and discussions of the different types of participles make my eyes cross. Luckily, “ing” words create only one type of participle: present participles. Simply put, “ing” words are present participles when they act like an adjective (as in “the running water”) or indicate verb tense (as in “She was running to the store”). While “ing” words that act like adjectives won’t usually slow down your writing, “ing” words that indicate verb tense — and are preceded by a “to be” verb, such as “was” in “She was running” — can slow down your writing. Turns out they also create the progressive verb form Ed mentioned. Luckily, it’s easy to make such statements more direct by deleting both the “to be” verb and the “ing” word, as in “She ran” instead of “She was running.”

“To be” verbs

In both my first example of this post (“The car was driven by John”) and my latest (“She was running”), the “to be” verb “was” would be deleted in the tighter versions (“John drove the car” and “She ran”). Writers are often told to avoid “to be” verbs, and luckily there are only eight to worry about: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. Three of them are literally forms of “be,” and the other five are easy to memorize: am, is, are, was, were. When a “to be” verb precedes an “ing” word in a sentence, it’s fair to consider revising that sentence.

One other thing Ed Robson mentioned is that “there are no simple, categorical rules…to make one’s writing more effective.” So even though some “ing” words can sound a bit passive, they still have their place. My best advice then, is to determine which “ing” words successfully do the heavy lifting in each piece you write and replace the rest when possible. As always, your readers will thank you.