{"id":16245,"date":"2018-09-20T21:12:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T21:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=16245"},"modified":"2019-08-30T17:34:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T17:34:31","slug":"verb-confusion-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/verb-confusion-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Clear Up Some [Verb]ing Confusion on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/09\/verb-confusion-gmat-reed-arnold.png\" alt=\"Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Let's Clear Up Some [Verb]ing Confusion on the GMAT by Reed Arnold\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/09\/verb-confusion-gmat-reed-arnold.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/09\/verb-confusion-gmat-reed-arnold-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/09\/verb-confusion-gmat-reed-arnold-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/09\/verb-confusion-gmat-reed-arnold-1024x536.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today\u2019s post will be short and sweet, but it will be useful. It has come to my attention lately that words ending with \u2018ing\u2019 can be a point of confusion for students. What are these [verb]ing words? How do they [verb]ing work? Why the [verb] do I need to understand this [female relative] [verb]ing subject for the GMAT?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/xiAqCzbB3eZvG\" width=\"480\" height=\"302\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/angry-monday-working-xiAqCzbB3eZvG\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s get something out in the open immediately: I don\u2019t like grammar terms. I\u2019m not a grammar\u2026tician, a grammatician\u2026 a grammarphile\u2026 I don\u2019t even know the word. I\u2019m not \u201csomeone who knows a lot of rules of grammar.\u201d That might surprise you, since I do teach the GMAT, and since grammar is part of the test. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the fact is, you don\u2019t need to know <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">any<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> grammatical terms or labels to do well on GMAT Sentence Correction. And I find that sometimes students get far too bogged down in the labels and worry, \u201cOh wait, should this be a present participle used in the present-perfect-progressive tense? Or is it a gerund? Or is it an adverbial modifier?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blech. Who cares what it\u2019s called? What matters is what it\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">doing<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And [verb]ing words do <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">four things<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in sentences. These are those [verb]ing four things:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>1) They Are Part of a Verb <\/b><b><i>When They Have Help<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The alligator was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">swimming<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the sewers of New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I leave for work in the morning, you will<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sleeping<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">firing<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Reed for his allusion to a very offensive term in his blog post.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Repeat after me: \u201cAn \u2014ing word is not a verb, and it never has a tense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[Verb]ing words look like verbs, because they are derived from verbs. But they are not actions on their own. I can\u2019t say \u201cThey going to the store\u201d on the GMAT. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order for an \u2014ing word to be a verb, it must be helped by a \u2018to be\u2019 word: is, was, will be, have been, were, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, an official grammatician (I looked it up, that\u2019s the word) might say that the \u2014ing word is a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">present participle<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and that the verb is the \u2018is\u2019 or \u2018was\u2019 or \u2018will be\u2019 part of the sentence. Probably, technically true. But for GMAT ease, just call <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the whole thing<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the verb.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The verb in the sentence \u201cWe are reading an incredibly dull blog post,\u201d is \u2018are reading.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The verb in \u201cSeriously, Reed is losing his job\u201d is \u2018is losing.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/q1mHcB8wOCWf6\" width=\"480\" height=\"267\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/homer-simpson-the-simpsons-reaction-q1mHcB8wOCWf6\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><b>2) They Are a Noun<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Swimming<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a good form of exercise for people with joint pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I always did enjoy <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sleeping <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">late into the morning on weekends. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though she has written and will write other books, J.K. Rowling will always be remembered for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">creating <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the wizarding world of Harry Potter. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An \u2014ing word that is used as a noun is technically called a \u2018gerund,\u2019 but again, this won\u2019t win you any GMAT points to know the term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are not super commonly tested on the GMAT. If they are, it\u2019s usually a switch between the gerund or the verb form:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShe ran around the lake and was tired afterward.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShe was tired after running around the lake.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or occasionally, between the \u2014ing word and a word more clearly thought of as a noun:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe business\u2019s creating a loyalty program has been mostly criticized by its customers.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe business\u2019s creation of a loyalty program has been mostly criticized by its customers.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>3) They Are Describing a Noun<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An alligator <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">swimming<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> towards you is about the scariest thing you can see in a swamp.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sleeping<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> child did not wake up during the party. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the \u2014ing word is doing this, make sure it is as close to the noun as possible. One of the most common splits you\u2019ll see with this is a \u2018[verb]ing\u2019 vs. \u2018that [verbs]\u2019 split. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some economists believe that countries <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that run<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a large trade deficit are actually more prosperous than those that do not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some economists believe that countries <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">running<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a large trade deficit are actually more prosperous than countries with a trade surplus. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally, this is a false split, or if not, it\u2019s a super subtle difference and you\u2019re better off finding another split to use. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>4) They Are Describing a Subject\/Verb Clause<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The alligator stalked its prey, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">swimming<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> slowly up to the shoreline so as not to be detected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After he was fired, Reed left the building, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">carrying<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a box of his personal belongings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/f2amVVgFXoUAo\" width=\"480\" height=\"353\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/50s-british-path-f2amVVgFXoUAo\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You might see this called an \u2018adverbial modifier.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whenever you see a structure like \u2018comma, [verb]ing,\u2019 notice how the [verb]ing is telling you how the subject does the verb. \u201cSwimming slowly\u201d is how the alligator stalked its prey, \u201cCarrying a box\u201d is how Reed left a building. Sometimes this can even show a direct cause\/effect relationship:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing prices continued to rise, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">forcing<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lower income people to move farther and farther from the downtown area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The GMAT loves changing between a verb and a modifier that looks like a verb. Two big things to check when you notice such a change: structure and <\/span><a id=\"bloglink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/2017\/06\/01\/gmat-sentence-correction-modifiers-and-meaning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>meaning<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that\u2019s it. Those are the four [verb]ing things an \u2014ing word can do. No need to memorize any fancy words or grammar terms. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope you found this blog post helpful. Let\u2019s just hope I don\u2019t actually get [verb]ing fired for it. ?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/4KxeicCUTvhrW\" width=\"480\" height=\"455\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/stephen-colbert-report-hopeful-4KxeicCUTvhrW\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b><i>Want some more GMAT tips from Reed? Attend the first session of one of his\u00a0<\/i><\/b><a id=\"bloglink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/classes\/#instructor\/366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>upcoming GMAT courses\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong><a id=\"bloglink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/instructors\/reed-arnold\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reed Arnold<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/instructors\/reed-arnold\/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&#038;utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_content=Reed%20Arnold%20Bio%20Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-12946 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/reed-arnold-150x150.png\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" \/><\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York, NY.<\/strong>\u00a0He has a B.A. in economics, philosophy, and mathematics and an M.S. in commerce, both from the University of Virginia. He enjoys writing, acting, Chipotle burritos, and teaching the\u00a0GMAT.\u00a0<a id=\"bloglink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/classes\/#instructor\/366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Check out Reed\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s post will be short and sweet, but it will be useful. It has come to my attention lately that words ending with \u2018ing\u2019 can be a point of confusion for students. What are these [verb]ing words? How do they [verb]ing work? Why the [verb] do I need to understand this [female relative] [verb]ing subject [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,880,929,52871,930,2,10],"tags":[53608,53607],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-101","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-verbs","tag-verbs-on-the-gmat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16245"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16281,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16245\/revisions\/16281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16245"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}