...ing, still taboo in the latter part of a sentence?

[The Din]

Hi everyone

I recently read through my NIP and discovered a disturbing amount of 'ing' words. I know they are frowned upon at the beginnings of sentences (ie: Picking up the hammer, he broke the goblin's fingers one by one.) as they imply both actions are happening simultaneously.

My question is whether they should be avoided at the end as well. (ie: He backed away, letting the hammer drop to the bloody floor.)

Thanks in advance

 

[Steerpike]

Your second example poses no problem, in my view. He can back away and let the hammer drop to the floor. I suppose if you run into temporal issues, where impossible things still appear to be happening simultaneously, then you'd still have a problem, but it seems to me you are much less likely to run into that sort of issue using the "ing" word in the latter part of the sentence than at the beginning.

 

[Devor]

Don't avoid them; learn to use them correctly.

Picking up the hammer, he approached the goblin and proceeded to break its fingers one by one.

Your second sentence is correct.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I don't have a problem with the latter at all. It implies simultaneity to me. "He backed away, and let the hammer drop" to me means "He backed away, and then after backing away let the hammer drop" versus "He backed away, and while backing away let the hammer drop." Possibly beginning both actions at once, possibly beginning one and then doing the other while the first is still goingm etc.

The former isn't even always bad. "Pushing through the snow, he realized that he had no food..." for example.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Wow this is really difficult to read. I don't understand what was wrong with the either sentence. I think the first one should be fixed to, "He picked up the hammer and broke the goblin's fingers one by one" (not sure if the comma is still needed)

I've never fully understood grammar.

 

[Shasjas]

It's got nothing to do with the ing word being on the beginning or end of a sentence, but whether it actually makes sense.
For instance your example was "Picking up the hammer, he broke the goblin's fingers one by one." That sounds wrong.
using the same example but with the ing and the end goes: "He broke the goblin's fingers one by one, picking up the hammer." still doesnt make sense.

The second one, which works, also works with the ing word at the beginning: " Letting the hammer drop to the bloody floor, he backed away."

 

[The Din]

Thanks for all the replies guys and gals

After reading up on gerunds, participles, and all that fun stuff, it seems there is little technically different between having the 'ing' word before or after the comma (as Shasjas so kindly demonstrates by picking apart my spur of the moment examples).

What I'd be interested to know is if anyone else finds them less jarring pushed to the end of a sentence? (Thanks for the concise answer btw, Steerpike.) When reading I personally find they draw less attention to themselves.