Confused about -ing endings

When used as part of a verb, an -ing ending indicates progression--an action that takes place over time. This can be past, present, future, or whatever.

I am running: present progressive.

I was running: past progressive.

I will be running: future progressive.

and even unto forms such as future perfect progressive: I will have been running.

Here's a handy chart that might help.

Don't forget:

I would have been running.

I could have been running.

I might have been running.

I may be running.

I might be running.

Confused yet?

Or Southern conditional progressive: I might could have been running.

I usually use -ing to set the stage. What was happening when something else happened?

For example:

I was folding laundry when the doorbell rang.

The phone was ringing when I unlocked the door.

If instead I said:

"I folded laundry when the doorbell rang." -> implies I started folding laundry at the sound of the doorbell

"The phone rang when I unlocked the door." -> implies unlocking the door makes the phone ring

Use -ing for continuing actions or actions in progress. Use simple past for actions which are finished.

Hope this helps.

When things are not "in progress" while something else is happening, don't use it. I think a lot of people confuse simple tense with progressive:

"He was standing there and was watching the paint dry."

Should be:

"He stood there and watched the paint dry."

The time to use -ing is:

"He was watching the paint dry when a bomb went off."

or

"He stood there, watching the paint dry."

Well put. (Or should I say, well putting...)

And congrats on 20K posts. That's a lot of posting!

Amazing that he gets any other writing done.

There are several verb forms that end with -- ing.

If you are writing mainly in simple past tense, (and most folks are,) you will generally find the simple past tense is a stronger way to express what you want to say than any of the --ing forms.

So, in your second or third draft of the ms, when you are pondering your plot weaknesses in the back of your mind, you can take time out to scan down the page and pick out all the --ing verbs and see if you can turn them to --ed verbs.

Not -- 'She was watching crocodiles eat her younger brother.'
But -- 'She watched crocodiles eat her younger brother.'

When you encounter --ing verbs that do not want to change, or where the change of verb form also changes meaning ... you leave those alone.

In the very long run, you will wish to learn the names and uses of those verb forms. Grammar is your friend.

Marlys said:

Or Southern conditional progressive: I might could have been running.

Click to expand...

If my understanding of Southern conditional progressive is correct, the "g" at the end of "running" should be replaced by an apostrophe, and "could have" should be abbreviated:

I might coulda been runnin'.