Is there anything wrong with starting a lot of sentences with verbs that end in "-ing"?ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Published:
January 5, 2012
Q: Is there anything wrong with starting a lot of sentences with
verbs that end in "–ing"? Here’s an example: “Swinging the bat, the ball
soared past the wooden fence.”
A: Too much of any one stylistic choice can dampen the
vibrancy of your prose. So, it’s a good idea to change things up, even
at the sentence level. Based on your sample sentence, though, the
problem goes beyond repetitive syntax. Let me explain.
Two
things happen in this sentence: 1) he swung the bat and 2) the ball
went past the wooden fence. The way you’ve constructed the sentence
indicates they happened at the same time. |
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