Don’t Misuse “ING” Words

Don’t Misuse “ING” Words

A recent read where the author’s over-frequent use of the same sentence construction triggered this post. First, it’s important to vary the construction to keep the reader from getting bored. For this author, the book was overrun with sentences starting with gerund phrases – those “ing” words.

At the very first writer’s conference I attended, an agent said she would reject a query with more than 1 sentence beginning with the “ing” construction. Her explanation—it’s too easy to m...