[mesmark]

Quote Lucienne

After thinking some more, I came up with this "rule": the more the gerund seems to describe a quality or category rather than a temporary action, the more acceptable it is to put the gerund first. Dying man, moving train, and feuding family all describe a category or stable quality (a man isn't suddenly going to stop dying, and we can separate healthy men, sick men, and dying men), so they sound good. But "playing song" sounds bad because playing is a very temporary state, not a characteristic of the song at all.

I like the summary. It's a bit clearer

I was just thinking and typing, so don't take any of that to be a rule. I usually just try to find reason to the pattern and that's what I came up with.

Are you teaching in Japan? I only ask because it's just about time for that grammar point here.