What is a present participle? Why are they overused? And what exactly is the difference between a gerund and a gerundive?
In this 9-minute audio blog, we look at the unexpected effect all those “-ing” words are having on your copywriting, and show how you can replace vague sentiments with clear, effective titles.
Give it a listen, to learn:
- What a present participle is—and why you’re almost certainly using them too much
- The best alternatives to woolly word choices
- Why no one in their right mind cares what a gerundive is anyway
“Looks like we got ourselves a reader…”
If you’d rather read the full text of Fiona’s original blog post in all its unadulterated glory, here’s Death to the present participle, or why “-ing” is not your friend in B2B headlines.
Alternatively, if you prefer a longer listen, try our monthly discussion podcast Good Copy, Bad Copy: the B2B Copywriting Podcast.
How to listen
You can download the episode here, or stream the episode in the player at the top of the page.
(If you’d rather use your podcast app, you subscribe to us on iTunes, and there’s an RSS feed here.)
Get in touch
If you find the audio blog format useful (or if you have a way to improve it), we really want to hear from you. Email podcast@radix-communications.com, tweet at us, or leave an iTunes review.
Credits
Audio editing: Bang and Smash
Title music: “Chinny Reckon” by the Nye Bevans