03 November, 2011

Beware of "ing" and "Iy" words

By "ing" words, I mean words that have a verb as the root with an "ing" added on.  Examples are walking, running, reading, writing, spelling, looking.  You get the idea.

These "ing" words can be gerund nouns (eg The writing was on the wall.) or they can be adjectives (eg the running man.).  I'm concerned here with "ing" words used as present participles (eg Walking to the door, he turned the handle.)

So what is actually wrong with:  "Walking to the door, he turned the handle"?   Simply that it implies he is doing both at the same time.  In reality he has to walk to the door before he can turn the handle.

What if the actions really are simultaneous?  For example, "Walking to the door, he put on his scarf."  Then this use would be correct, but it still may not be the best way of constructing the sentence.  It is often better to use the active form of the verb.  "He walked to the door and put on his scarf."

The active verb form is stronger and is less tiring for the reader as the sentence just flows in a sequential order.  The subject is just before the verb which keeps everything simple and clear.

Using the present participle, the reader has to keep the first part of the sentence in his mind while he reads the remainder of the sentence.

Use the search feature to look for all examples of  "ing" words in your writing.  Identify which are used as present participles, and then re-write the sentence unless you have a good reason for wanting to retain it.

"ly" words are adverbs.  What is wrong with adverbs?  Nothing really, except that they are often overused by lazy and flabby writers (and I'm not talking about BMI here).  Writing can be made more concise and therefore tighter simply by using better verbs instead of verb-adverb combinations.  So again use the search  tool on the "ly" words, and try to find alternatives for some of them

These two searches can really help you root out weak or over-used prose.  Happy editing!



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