Different Types of “ing” Words

And which to avoid to help make your writing tighter

Photo taken at Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada by Victor Rodriguez on Unsplash

In my post on gerunds, infinitives, and participles, I explained that these parts of speech are all considered verbals, which resemble verbs but don’t behave like them. Instead, they might serve as nouns, adverbs, or adjectives. Of the three parts of speech covered in that post, two end in “ing.” And while “ing” words are common, sometimes replacing them can help tighten your writing.

Gerunds include a verb followed by “ing” and always function as nouns. Consider this example, which includes three basic gerunds: “He likes walking, jumping, and singing.” While the active verb “likes” in this sentence helps keep things moving along, it’s easy to tighten this statement to: “He likes to walk, jump, and sing.” In this instance, the addition of “to” allows you to replace the gerunds with infinitives that also function as nouns.

Participles are a bit more complicated than gerunds, but luckily “ing” forms come in only one flavor: present participles. Simply put, present participles can act like adjectives as in “the running water” (as opposed to the gerund “running,” which is always a noun) or indicate verb tense when paired with a “to be” verb as in “She was running to the store.” While present participles that serve as adjectives won’t usually slow down your writing, those paired with a “to be” verb to indicate verb tense can. 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.”

Writers are often told to avoid “to be” verbs to help keep their writing from getting bogged down, and luckily there are only eight to watch for: “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.” As noted above, when a “to be” verb precedes an “ing” word in a sentence, creating a present participle to indicate verb tense, it’s fair to consider revising that sentence.

It makes no sense, though, to always avoid using “to be” verbs, just as it makes no sense to always cut “ing” words from your writing. 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. Your readers will thank you.

An earlier version of this post appeared in The Writing Cooperative.

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I write fiction, poetry, and nonfiction when I’m not working as a copy editor. Author of the novel *One Sister’s Song and the e-book [Not Nearly Everything You Need to Know About Writing](https://amzn.to/3mjSa2O). Learn more at my free [Writing Well](https://karendegrootcarter.substack.com/)* newsletter.