A study by Columbia University urged the United States

[Guest]

I have a random verbal question, can you have two words ending "ing" together?

For example, (I completely made this question up so there is no source)

1) A study by Columbia University urged the United States government to undertake a number of remedies to reverse an increase in the number of people contracting HIV, including establishing sex education TV programs, prosecuting people who deliberately pass on HIV to unsuspecting victims , and requiring parents to ensure that teenagers practice safe sex.

Is it ok to have this sentence construction or is the construction below more appropriate:

2) A study by Columbia University urged the United States government to undertake a number of remedies to reverse an increase in the number of people contracting HIV, including the establishing of sex education TV programs, prosecution of people who deliberately pass on HIV to unsuspecting victims, and requiring parents to ensure that teenagers practice safe sex.

I read in OG that the GMAT does not like sentence construction in sentence one, however, the sentence seems correct to me. Am I missing a grammar rule somewhere.

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

It's rare to have two -ing's in a row, though you can. Your first sentence is okay grammatically. It is also the case, though, that the OG generally does not like this construction and will often say it is "awkward" if something better is present.

Also, in your second sentence, you wouldn't say "the establishing" though - you'd say "the establishment." Also, the items in that sentence are now not parallel. So if I had to choose between these two options, I'd choose the first - in this case, I don't have a better option.

So, the takeaway: generally be skeptical of two ing's strung together - but if you can't find anything else wrong with it and it seems okay to you, leave it in until the end. Evaluate the other choices for grammar errors and if the others have clear errors, go ahead and choose the two ing's option. If you find another that looks completely grammatically fine, though, then don't choose the two ing's option.