The -ing Puzzle: One Procedure to Sort Out Every "-ing" Word

The little ending -ing causes more reading mistakes than anything else in English. The same shape, running, reading, waiting, can be a verb, a thing, a describer, or a squeezed-down clause, and the shape alone tells you nothing. This post gathers everything you know about -ing into one reliable, step-by-step procedure, powered by the Boot, that settles which job an -ing word is doing every single time.

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1. The puzzle: one shape, many jobs

Look at the word running in these four sentences:

1. The athlete is running. → running is a verb (the action).
2. Running is healthy. → running is a thing (the subject, a gerund).
3. the running water → running is a describer (an adjective before a noun).
4. the water running down the wall... → running is a squeezed-down clause (describing the water).

Same word, four different jobs! And here's the scary part: the shape "-ing" gives you no clue which job it's doing. You can't tell from the word itself.

So how do proficient readers handle this? They don't look at the shape; they look at the position (where the word sits) and the support (is there a Boot word before it?). This post gives you a clear five-step procedure to do exactly that, consciously, until it becomes automatic.

Quick recap: The "-ing" ending has many jobs: verb, thing (gerund), describer, or squeezed-down clause. The shape alone tells you NOTHING. You must look at POSITION (where it sits) and SUPPORT (is a Boot word before it?).

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2. The single biggest mistake (and how to avoid it)

Before the procedure, let me show you the one mistake that causes the most reading failures in all of English. Look at this sentence:

The students waiting in the hall left early.

Most learners read waiting as the main verb. They think: "The students waited in the hall... and left early?", and get confused about what's happening.

But waiting is not the main verb! Run the Boot test: is there a Boot word before waiting? Look left, the word before it is students. That's not a Boot word. So waiting is not a verb. It's describing the students (telling us which students, the ones waiting in the hall). The real main verb is left.

So the sentence means: The students (the ones who were waiting in the hall) left early. The students left. The "waiting" just describes them.

This one mistake, grabbing an -ing word as the main verb when it's actually a describer, repeated across thousands of sentences, is responsible for most advanced reading failures. The procedure below eliminates it forever.

Worth repeating: The biggest mistake: reading an -ing word as the main verb when it's actually a describer. The students waiting in the hall left early, waiting is NOT the verb (no Boot before it); left is the verb. The students left.

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3. The three main jobs of "-ing"

Let's organize the jobs. An -ing word does one of three main jobs (plus a fourth special case):

The first three (verb, thing, describer) you've met before. The fourth (the squeezed clause) is the one from the "biggest mistake" above, and it's the one that needs the most care.

Lock this in: An -ing word's jobs: VERB (Boot before it: is reading), THING/gerund (in a thing-slot: Reading helps), DESCRIBER (before a noun: the reading student), or SQUEEZED CLAUSE (after a noun, no Boot, verb comes later: the students reading quietly).

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4. The five-step procedure

Here's the reliable procedure. When you meet an -ing word, run these steps in order, and stop at the first "yes."

Step 1, Look LEFT: Is there a Boot word (am/is/are/was/were/be/been/being) directly before it? → YES → it's a verb (a continuous verb). Stop. (She is reading.) → NO → go to Step 2.

Step 2: Does it fill a thing-slot (subject, object, or after a preposition)? → YES → it's a gerund (a thing). Stop. (Reading helps. She enjoys reading.) → NO → go to Step 3.

Step 3, Is it directly BEFORE a noun? → YES → it's a describer (an adjective, in M2). Stop. (the reading student.) → NO → go to Step 4.

Step 4: Is it right AFTER a noun, with another main verb coming later? → YES → it's a squeezed-down clause (a reduced describing clause, the famous trap). Stop. (the students reading quietly... [main verb later]) → NO → go to Step 5.

Step 5, None of these fit? → It's probably a clause-edge reduction (like Walking home, she called...). We'll study these in the advanced posts.

The heart of the whole procedure is Step 1: look left for a Boot word. That single check resolves most cases instantly. If there's a Boot word, it's a verb. If not, you keep going down the steps using position.

A quick reminder: The five-step procedure: (1) Boot before it? → verb. (2) In a thing-slot? → gerund. (3) Before a noun? → describer. (4) After a noun with a verb later? → squeezed clause. (5) Otherwise → clause-edge reduction. Step 1 (look left for the Boot) resolves most cases.

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5. Watching the procedure work

Let's run the procedure on real examples.

Example 1: Prices are rising.

• Step 1: Boot before rising? Yes, are. → verb (continuous). are rising is the action. ✓

Example 2: Running helps your heart.

• Step 1: Boot before Running? No. → Step 2.
• Step 2: Does it fill a thing-slot? Yes; it's the subject. → gerund (a thing). ✓

Example 3: the sleeping child

• Step 1: Boot before sleeping? No. → Step 2.
• Step 2: Thing-slot? No. → Step 3.
• Step 3: Right before a noun? Yes, before child. → describer (M2). ✓

Example 4: The students reading in the library were silent.

• Step 1: Boot before reading? No (the word before is students). → Step 2.
• Step 2: Thing-slot? No. → Step 3.
• Step 3: Before a noun? No (it's after students). → Step 4.
• Step 4: After a noun, with another main verb later? Yes: reading is after students, and the real verb were comes later. → squeezed clause (a reduced describing clause: "who were reading in the library"). The real main verb is were. ✓

See how the procedure calmly walks you to the right answer, even for the tricky Example 4? You never have to guess.

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6. The power of comparing triples

A great way to train your eye is to compare three sentences with the same -ing word in different jobs. Watch crying:

1. The crying baby slept. → before a noun → describer (M2)
2. The baby is crying. → Boot (is) before it → verb (continuous)
3. Crying helps her relax. → subject slot, no Boot → gerund (thing)

Same word, three jobs, sorted by position and the Boot. Try making your own triples with words like running, working, reading; it trains your eye fast.

Say it again: Compare triples to train your eye: the crying baby (describer) / the baby is crying (verb) / Crying helps (gerund). Position + Boot sort them out.

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7. A few extra -ing situations to recognize

Beyond the main jobs, you'll sometimes meet these (just recognize them for now):

• gerund after a verb (object): She enjoys reading. (the thing she enjoys: Step 2, object slot)
• gerund after a preposition: He left without speaking. (after the preposition without → gerund. Remember from Two Verbs Together: -ing or "to"? (Gerund vs. Infinitive): after a preposition, always -ing.)
• clause-edge reduction: Walking home, she called her sister. (an -ing word starting the sentence, set off by a comma, a squeezed adverbial clause. Step 5; full treatment in the advanced posts.)
• "being" + describer: Being late is risky. (here Being late is a thing, the gerund of be.)

Two practical tips from the procedure:

• When an -ing word comes after a preposition, test gerund (thing) first; it almost always is.
• When an -ing word sits at the edge of a sentence (start or end, often with a comma), test the clause-edge reduction (Step 5).

Hold onto this: After a preposition, an -ing word is almost always a gerund (without speaking). At a sentence edge with a comma, it's often a squeezed adverbial clause (Walking home, she called...).

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8. Why this aids your reading

This post is the Boot (The Boot: The Most Powerful Tool in This Whole Series) turned into a complete, conscious procedure. Step 1 is the Boot test. The other steps use position, exactly the "reading by signal" and "head discipline" habits from The Structural Mindset: Training Your Eyes to See the Shape.

It also ties together everything from the noun-phrase section: an -ing describer before a noun is M2 (The M2 Zone: Describing Words (and a Secret Connection to the Boot)); an -ing gerund as subject is a nominal structure (When a Whole Clause Acts Like a "Thing": Nominal Structures); an -ing squeezed clause after a noun is a reduced relative (The M5 Zone: Full Describing Clauses (a Major Milestone)). The -ing puzzle is really a meeting point for all those ideas, resolved by one procedure.

And Step 4, the squeezed clause after a noun, is a direct preview of the most important advanced skill in this series (the method calls it "RT2"). When you reach the advanced posts, you'll learn to un-squeeze these back into full clauses. This post is your foundation for that.

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9. Put it to the test

Try each yourself first, then check the answers.

Exercise A, Classify the -ing word (verb / gerund / describer / squeezed clause)

1. The crying baby slept.
2. The baby is crying.
3. Crying helps her relax.
4. a running engine
5. Running is excellent exercise.
6. She is running the programme.
7. The students waiting outside can enter now.

Exercise B, Run the Boot test (Step 1)

For each, answer: (a) Is there a Boot word before the -ing word? (b) Is the -ing word the main verb or not?

1. The data suggesting a correlation have been reviewed.
2. The committee is suggesting a new protocol.
3. Suggesting a new protocol requires skill.

Exercise C, Find the REAL main verb

In each sentence, an -ing word is NOT the main verb. Find the real main verb.

1. The women working in the archive found the letter.
2. The guests arriving tonight need rooms.
3. The engineers working overnight reported progress.

Exercise D, After a preposition

What job does the -ing word do here? He solved the problem by working carefully.

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Answers (try first, then check!)

Exercise A, Classify the -ing word:

1. crying → describer (before the noun baby, no Boot)
2. is crying → verb (Boot is before it)
3. Crying → gerund (subject slot, no Boot)
4. running → describer (before the noun engine)
5. Running → gerund (subject slot, no Boot)
6. is running → verb (Boot is before it)
7. waiting → squeezed clause (after the noun students, no Boot, real verb can enter comes later)

Exercise B, Run the Boot test:

1. suggesting → (a) No Boot before it. (b) NOT the main verb (it's a squeezed clause: "which suggests"; the real verb is have been reviewed).
2. is suggesting → (a) Yes, Boot is. (b) It IS the main verb (continuous).
3. Suggesting → (a) No Boot (sentence-initial). (b) NOT a verb; it's a gerund (the subject); the main verb is requires.

Exercise C, Find the real main verb:

1. The women working in the archive found the letter. → main verb: found (working is a squeezed clause describing women)
2. The guests arriving tonight need rooms. → main verb: need (arriving describes guests)
3. The engineers working overnight reported progress. → main verb: reported (working describes engineers)

Exercise D, After a preposition: by working carefully → working is a gerund (it comes after the preposition by: after a preposition, an -ing word is a gerund/thing).

How did you do? Exercise C is the most important, finding the real main verb past an -ing impostor is the exact skill that unlocks dense English. If you got those, you've defeated the single biggest reading trap in the language.

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10. The points that matter

1. The "-ing" ending has many jobs, and the shape tells you nothing. You must use position and the Boot.

2. The biggest mistake: reading an -ing word as the main verb when it's a describer. (The students waiting in the hall LEFT early, left is the verb.)

3. The four jobs: verb (Boot before it), gerund/thing (in a thing-slot), describer (before a noun), squeezed clause (after a noun, with a verb later).

4. The five-step procedure: (1) Boot before it? → verb. (2) Thing-slot? → gerund. (3) Before a noun? → describer. (4) After a noun, verb later? → squeezed clause. (5) Otherwise → clause-edge reduction.

5. Step 1 (look left for the Boot) resolves most cases. No Boot → it's not the main verb; keep going by position.

6. After a preposition, an -ing word is a gerund. At a sentence edge (with a comma), it's often a squeezed adverbial clause.

7. The squeezed-clause case (Step 4) is the foundation for the most important advanced skill (RT2), coming later.

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11. Where you stand now

You've now mastered the single trickiest little ending in English, the -ing, with one reliable procedure that you can run consciously until it becomes automatic. This is the skill that separates anxious readers from confident ones, and it's powered by the Boot you've known since The Boot: The Most Powerful Tool in This Whole Series.

In How to Make Questions: The Inversion Algorithm, we shift to something more active and practical: how to form questions in English. You'll learn a simple, mechanical procedure (the "inversion algorithm") that turns any statement into a question, no guessing required. It builds directly on the helping verbs and the Boot you now know so well.

When you're ready, How to Make Questions: The Inversion Algorithm starts building sentences rather than just reading them. First, find a few -ing words around you and run the procedure on each.