Another ing question

[JRo]

Alright ... another 'ing' question. I've seen conflicting views on this. Starting a sentence with a word that ends in ing. I do it sometimes to cut back on starting a sentence with a pronoun. For example:

Groaning, I pushed myself off the table.

vs.

I groaned and pushed myself off the table.

What is the opinion on this?

[violet]

Alright ... another 'ing' question. I've seen conflicting views on this. Starting a sentence with a word that ends in ing. I do it sometimes to cut back on starting a sentence with a pronoun. For example:

Groaning, I pushed myself off the table.

vs.

I groaned and pushed myself off the table.

What is the opinion on this?

Gerunds are fine if used sparingly. But try to get creative with your sentences so you don't have to rely on these and pronouns to start a sentence. Easier said than done, I know. 

[Magpie]

It's a fine way to vary sentence structure. But just as you don't want to start a bunch of sentences with a pronoun, you don't want to rely too heavily on this structure either, know what I mean?

[Magic_Seeker]

The editor blogs I read condemn starting a sentence with an -ing clause as a newby mistake.  They say you can use it occasionally, but not often.

I believe you can safely use an -ing descriptor, though. -- "Singing birds regaled the forest."

[JRo]

Yep. Yep. I think I have varying sentence structure now. On my draft of one book I realized after the fact (of course) that three paragraphs in a row starting with the ing effect.

So it's okay when broken up? Like ...

I groaned and pushed myself off the table.
vs.
Groaning, I pushed myself off the table.
vs.
With a heavy groan, I pushed off the table.

[JRo]

The editor blogs I read condemn starting a sentence with an -ing clause as a newby mistake.  They say you can use it occasionally, but not often.

I believe you can safely use an -ing descriptor, though. -- "Singing birds regaled the forest."

 I've read that too, but I see so many novels with the start of the sentence being a ing verb. That's where I get confused. Agents and editors hate this or that, and yet, I pick up any book, and everything they hate is in the published book.

[Magic_Seeker]

The editor blogs I read condemn starting a sentence with an -ing clause as a newby mistake.  They say you can use it occasionally, but not often.

I believe you can safely use an -ing descriptor, though. -- "Singing birds regaled the forest."

 I've read that too, but I see so many novels with the start of the sentence being a ing verb. That's where I get confused. Agents and editors hate this or that, and yet, I pick up any book, and everything they hate is in the published book.

I know, I read it in best-sellers frequently.    I suppose it depends on the editor.  But if you use it sparingly, nobody will complain - or at worst, you won't have as many changes to make. 

[violet]

I've read that too, but I see so many novels with the start of the sentence being a ing verb. That's where I get confused. Agents and editors hate this or that, and yet, I pick up any book, and everything they hate is in the published book.

I recently read a book that had so many sentences starting with 'ing' I stopped reading. It literally kept pulling me out of the story. How this got past an editor, I'll never know.

[The Mad Celt]

The table offered support, as I pushed myself up and groaned.