5 exercises — practise attaching -ing result clauses to describe consequences.
0 / 20 completed
1 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses an -ing clause of result to describe the consequence of a database failover?
"...failed over, causing a thirty-second write outage" is correct: a comma followed by an -ing participle clause is the standard way to attach a result to a preceding main clause, and the implied subject of "causing" is the whole preceding clause (the failover event), not a separate noun. Option A uses the past tense "caused", which would need its own subject and coordinating conjunction ("and caused") to be grammatical as written. Option C incorrectly uses a to-infinitive, which expresses purpose rather than result. Option D uses the bare base form, which cannot follow a comma in this construction.
2 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "resulting in" as an -ing result clause after a memory leak is described?
"...leaked memory for six hours, resulting in an OOM kill of the pod" is correct: the -ing form "resulting" attaches smoothly after the comma to summarize the consequence of the entire preceding clause. Option B uses the finite past tense "resulted", which reads as a second independent clause but is missing the required conjunction "and". Option C uses the bare base form, which is ungrammatical after a comma in this position. Option D wrongly uses a to-infinitive, which would imply intention or purpose rather than an unintended consequence.
3 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses an -ing clause of result to describe a misconfigured firewall rule's effect?
"...misapplied, blocking all inbound traffic on port 443..." is correct: the -ing clause of result needs no explicit subject because it refers back to the entire main clause. Option A uses the finite past tense "blocked" without a coordinating conjunction, creating a comma splice. Option C uses the bare base form, which cannot stand alone as a participle clause. Option D incorrectly inserts the pronoun "it" before the -ing form, which is redundant and ungrammatical in this reduced clause structure.
4 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses "leading to" as an -ing result clause in a postmortem summary?
"...skipped the canary stage, leading to a full rollout..." is correct: "leading to" is a standard -ing result-clause pattern used to summarize consequences in postmortems. Option B uses the bare base form "lead", which cannot follow a comma here. Option C uses the finite past tense "led", which would require "and" to join it as a second clause rather than a reduced participle clause. Option D incorrectly uses a to-infinitive, which suggests purpose rather than an unintended downstream effect.
5 / 20
Which sentence correctly uses an -ing clause of result after describing a retry storm caused by a client bug?
"...triggered a retry storm, overwhelming the API gateway within seconds" is correct: the -ing participle clause attaches directly after the comma with no coordinating conjunction needed, since it functions as a modifier of the whole preceding clause rather than a separate independent clause. Option B uses the finite past tense "overwhelmed" without "and", creating a comma splice. Option C uses the ungrammatical bare base form. Option D incorrectly adds "and" before the -ing form, which is redundant because -ing result clauses are non-finite modifiers, not coordinated independent clauses.
6 / 20
David: 'The new deployment is resulting in increased latency for users in the West Coast. We need to investigate immediately.' Is this sentence correctly using an -ing clause of result?
The core concept of an -ing clause of result describes a direct consequence. 'Resulting in' accurately conveys this cause-and-effect relationship when discussing performance metrics like latency. The other options misinterpret 'resulting in' or suggest alternative phrasing that isn't optimal for expressing the immediate impact.
7 / 20
Sarah (in a Slack message): 'The automated tests are leading to a significant number of false positives. We're seeing more regressions than anticipated.' Does Sarah correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
Sarah uses 'leading to' appropriately to show that the automated tests are *causing* a higher frequency of false positives. This demonstrates the direct result of the test execution. 'Due to' would be suitable if she were explaining the *reason* for the problem, not the outcome.
8 / 20
Mark (in a PR description): 'The updated authentication flow is causing intermittent connection errors when users attempt to log in via the mobile app.' Which best describes why this sentence effectively uses an -ing clause of result?
The -ing clause of result highlights the immediate consequence: connection errors. The updated authentication flow is directly *causing* these issues. This phrasing emphasizes the direct link between the change and the observed problem – a key element when documenting technical changes.
9 / 20
Emily (during a standup): 'The recent code changes are resulting in increased CPU usage on the production servers.' What is Emily intending to communicate with this sentence?
Emily is stating a direct causal relationship: the code changes *are causing* an increase in CPU utilization. This is a standard way to report performance issues when new code is deployed. The other options present alternative ways of phrasing this effect or misinterpret 'resulting in'.
10 / 20
John (in a code review comment): 'This fix is leading to a race condition when multiple users simultaneously access the resource.' Does John correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
John uses 'leading to' effectively to communicate that the fix is generating a new and problematic situation – a race condition. This highlights the direct consequence of the change in access patterns. 'Resulting in' could be used, but 'leading to' provides a more immediate sense of urgency regarding the newly introduced issue.
11 / 20
David: 'The new deployment is resulting in increased latency for users in the West Coast. We need to investigate immediately.' Is this sentence correctly using an -ing clause of result?
The core concept of an -ing clause of result describes a direct consequence. 'Resulting in' accurately conveys this cause-and-effect relationship when discussing performance metrics like latency. The other options misinterpret 'resulting in' or suggest alternative phrasing that isn't optimal for expressing the immediate impact.
12 / 20
Sarah (in a Slack message): 'The automated tests are leading to a significant number of false positives. We're seeing more regressions than anticipated.' Does Sarah correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
Sarah uses 'leading to' appropriately to show that the automated tests are *causing* a higher frequency of false positives. This demonstrates the direct result of the test execution. 'Due to' would be suitable if she were explaining the *reason* for the problem, not the outcome.
13 / 20
Mark (in a PR description): 'The updated authentication flow is causing intermittent connection errors when users attempt to log in via the mobile app.' Which best describes why this sentence effectively uses an -ing clause of result?
The -ing clause of result highlights the immediate consequence: connection errors. The updated authentication flow is directly *causing* these issues. This phrasing emphasizes the direct link between the change and the observed problem – a key element when documenting technical changes.
14 / 20
Emily (during a standup): 'The recent code changes are resulting in increased CPU usage on the production servers.' What is Emily intending to communicate with this sentence?
Emily is stating a direct causal relationship: the code changes *are causing* an increase in CPU utilization. This is a standard way to report performance issues when new code is deployed. The other options present alternative ways of phrasing this effect or misinterpret 'resulting in'.
15 / 20
John (in a code review comment): 'This fix is leading to a race condition when multiple users simultaneously access the resource.' Does John correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
John uses 'leading to' effectively to communicate that the fix is generating a new and problematic situation – a race condition. This highlights the direct consequence of the change in access patterns. 'Resulting in' could be used, but 'leading to' provides a more immediate sense of urgency regarding the newly introduced issue.
16 / 20
David: 'The new deployment is resulting in increased latency for users in the West Coast. We need to investigate immediately.' Is this sentence correctly using an -ing clause of result?
The core concept of an -ing clause of result describes a direct consequence. 'Resulting in' accurately conveys this cause-and-effect relationship when discussing performance metrics like latency. The other options misinterpret 'resulting in' or suggest alternative phrasing that isn't optimal for expressing the immediate impact.
17 / 20
Sarah (in a Slack message): 'The automated tests are leading to a significant number of false positives. We're seeing more regressions than anticipated.' Does Sarah correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
Sarah uses 'leading to' appropriately to show that the automated tests are *causing* a higher frequency of false positives. This demonstrates the direct result of the test execution. 'Due to' would be suitable if she were explaining the *reason* for the problem, not the outcome.
18 / 20
Mark (in a PR description): 'The updated authentication flow is causing intermittent connection errors when users attempt to log in via the mobile app.' Which best describes why this sentence effectively uses an -ing clause of result?
The -ing clause of result highlights the immediate consequence: connection errors. The updated authentication flow is directly *causing* these issues. This phrasing emphasizes the direct link between the change and the observed problem – a key element when documenting technical changes.
19 / 20
Emily (during a standup): 'The recent code changes are resulting in increased CPU usage on the production servers.' What is Emily intending to communicate with this sentence?
Emily is stating a direct causal relationship: the code changes *are causing* an increase in CPU utilization. This is a standard way to report performance issues when new code is deployed. The other options present alternative ways of phrasing this effect or misinterpret 'resulting in'.
20 / 20
John (in a code review comment): 'This fix is leading to a race condition when multiple users simultaneously access the resource.' Does John correctly utilize an -ing clause of result?
John uses 'leading to' effectively to communicate that the fix is generating a new and problematic situation – a race condition. This highlights the direct consequence of the change in access patterns. 'Resulting in' could be used, but 'leading to' provides a more immediate sense of urgency regarding the newly introduced issue.
What will I practise in "-ing Clauses of Result — IT Grammar Exercise"?
Practise using comma + -ing participle clauses (causing, resulting in, leading to, overwhelming) to describe the consequence of an event in incident reports
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 20 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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