Clarify Gerunds and Participles
Participles are verbs that end in -ed or -ing and act as modifiers. Gerunds are verbs that end in -ing and act as nouns. Both types of words are useful and acceptable, but they can cause confusion if they are misplaced in a sentence. For example, the word meeting can be a gerund or a participle (or even a noun) depending on its placement in a sentence. When you use gerunds and participles, ensure that the meaning is clear.
Use | Avoid |
|---|---|
A job can include metadata that schedules the program to run at a specified date and time. | A job can include scheduling metadata that enables the program to run at a specified date and time. |
Public Cloud is infrastructure that consists of shared resources, deployed on a self-service basis over the Internet. | Public Cloud is infrastructure consisting of shared resources, deployed on a self-service basis over the Internet. |
Test the certificate by using a browser to connect to your server. | Test the certificate using a browser to connect to your server. |
When you use a load balancer with a public-facing IP address, this address becomes the IP address of your website. | When using a load balancer with a public-facing IP address, this address becomes the IP address of your website. |
The last example illustrates a dangling modifier. In the Avoid example, using doesn't have a subject, so the implied subject is address, which is incorrect. If the implied subject isn't correct, you must revise the sentence to provide a subject for the modifying phrase.
The titles of tutorial or high-level process articles or topics usually start with a gerund. Titles have less context than sentences, so you have to be especially careful to ensure that the meaning is clear.
Use | Avoid |
|---|---|
Options for editing or Editing of options | Editing options |
Billing for services | Billing services |
Changing the DNS settings on Windows | Changing DNS settings on Windows |
Changing a password | Changing passwords |