usage of the word "being" in a SC question

[rajeshroshan]

Can someone please help me understand the usage of the word "being" in a SC question?

I keep reading in books and other places that one should avoid picking an answer choice that contains the word "being".
However, the last couple of questions I attempted had the word "being" in the correct answer choice.

[RonPurewal]

"Being" is a legitimate English word, so of course it would be wrong to say that it can't be correct.
Any advice to avoid a particular word or short phrase should be construed as GUESSING advice, excepting only those cases that are inherently wrong or inconsistent (e.g., redundant constructions).

[RonPurewal]

some examples:
(the first one i made up; the other three are correct answers to official problems)

Being followed by paparazzi 24 hours a day has caused many celebrities to become extremely hostile to strangers. (source: i made this up on the spot)
(this is an "ING noun" form. It's also in "passive voice""”you may want to look that up, if you don't know what I mean. Most, but not all, correct forms of "being" will be in this passive type of form.)

During the 1950s, as part of their therapy, young polio victims learning to live with their disabilities were helped to practice falling, so that they could learn to fall without being hurt. (source: gmat prep)
(again, ING noun; again, "passive")

According to one expert, the cause of genetic irregularities in many breeds of dog is not so much that dogs are being bred for looks or to meet other narrow criteria as that the breeds have relatively few founding members. (source: gmat prep)
("passive", but not an ING noun. This is a verb, like "I am swimming")

Being heavily committed to a course of action is likely to... (from OG; the rest of the sentence has been redacted)
(ING noun; not "passive")

[JianchengD868]

Dear Ron,

During the 1950s, as part of their therapy, young polio victims learning to live with their disabilities were
helped to practice falling, so that they could learn to fall without being hurt.(source: gmat prep)
(again, passive voice gerund)

I think hurt in this sentence is an adjective, so being is a gerund.

Being heavily committed to a course of action is likely to... (from OG; the rest of the sentence has been redacted)
(ING noun; not "passive")

Does committed is an adjective here?
Is commit seldom used in a passive voice?

regards,
Jiancheng

[RonPurewal]

I think hurt in this sentence is an adjective, so being is a gerund.

i don't know/remember what a "gerund" is.

however, it should be clear that "being hurt" is a NOUN here.
(if that's what a "gerund" is, then, sure, you're correct... but why bother with a separate term for that?
simplicity >> unnecessary complexity.)

[RonPurewal]

Being heavily committed to a course of action is likely to... (from OG; the rest of the sentence has been redacted)
(ING noun; not "passive")

Does committed is an adjective here?

yes.

you can figure this out yourself, by replacing "committed to" with something that is more clearly an adjective (e.g., "enthusiastic about", "zealous about").

you can also figure out that this is NOT "passive voice", because no one else is "committing" these executives to anything.

[RonPurewal]

Is commit seldom used in a passive voice?

well... "commit" (like any other verb that can have an object) CAN be used in passive forms.
e.g.,
The agency cancelled the project, wasting the resources that had already been committed to it.
(= someone/some organization had committed these resources. since the identity of that/those entities is unimportant here, the passive is a good way to write this sentence.)

as for your question about "seldom"... well, i'm just going to leave that one unanswered, since i can't see how there could be any value in quantifying such a thing.
it's a thing; it exists; it's possible. that's really all that is worth knowing here.

[HungL366]

2 more correct examples about the use of Being from official questions:

Simply being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to become an invasive or persistent weed, according to a decade-long study published in the journal Nature.

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American—the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

[RonPurewal]

thanks. do you have a question?

[aflaamM589]

2 more correct examples about the use of Being from official questions:

Simply being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to become an invasive or persistent weed, according to a decade-long study published in the journal Nature.

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American—the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

Hello Ron,
Here first "being" is gerund and is in passive voice construction, correct?

Can you tell about second one?

[RonPurewal]

i don't know that terminology.

the first "being" is a noun, which should be perfectly clear -- it's the subject of the sentence!

as for the second one, it's not something worth worrying about. that problem can be solved entirely with basic parallelism, and everything else in the problem is just there as a distraction. i wrote about that here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p121947

[RonPurewal]

...and i'm going to lock this thread, since it violates at least 2 forum rules (it contains more than 1 problem, and it's in the wrong folder).