THOSE DREADFUL 'ING' WORDS AT THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE . . .

Okay, I must get this off my chest. And I'm not targeting any one writer, because every writer has committed this dreadful crime at one time or another. Usually at the beginning of their writing career . . . until someone like me calls their attention to it.

ING words at the beginning of sentences is a no-no, please! Or rather, an OVERUSE of ING words at the start of sentences is a no-no. Take a look at what you've written lately. Do you have more than one sentence on a page starting with an ING word?

And while you're at it, also look for sentences beginning with AS ... same thing. You can overuse AS as much as ING words.

Now an occasional ING word and an AS is okay starting a sentence or paragraph, but not when it becomes one after another on one page . . . when it stands out and leaps at you because of its overuse. The construction of each sentence needs to be different than the last, a contrast to the last, and words need to be of a variety so as not to bore and be repetitive.

Starting every sentence or a paragraph with a name is a no-no too.

But back to the ING words. Have you ever read a sentence like this: "Opening the door, she went directly to the bedroom." Oops! You can't open the door and go to the bedroom at the same time. In this instance, the ING word was not part of the action of the same sentence. So it's wrong anyway. You would say, "She opened the door and then went directly to the bedroom."

I saw one perfect example of misuse on the Internet - "Unlocking the door, she left the room." You see the problem here? You can't unlock the door and leave the room at the same time.

So when you do use ING words at the beginning of sentences, sparsely, make sure the ING phrase relates to the subject of the sentence. Here's one use - "Transfering the information was the important task of the day." But could also be written as - "The important task of the day was transfering the information." The second is preferable.

So watch those beginnings of sentences and paragraphs, and remember variety is best ... so crucial in your advancement as a writer.