The progressive verb “being” is not necessary in this sentence. It is more concise and to-the-point to say: "Hillary Clinton, a prominent American politician, is often represented in the media as a conniving woman rather than a successful political figure."

“Having” is an incorrect use of a gerund. It creates confusion with respect to time, as both “looked” and “dumbfounded” are in the simple past tense.

It is not necessary to use the gerund “attempting” in this sentence because the noun “attempt” already exists. The corrected sentence reads, "Despite her best intentions, Suzy’s attempt to throw a surprise birthday party was a complete disaster."

Usually, the phrase “instead of” is followed by a gerund or verb that ends in "-ing". The corrected sentence reads, "Most elderly women prefer to go to bed early instead of staying up late watching television."

This sentence uses the verb “swim” when it needs a gerund, “swimming.” A gerund is a verb that is acting as a noun. The corrected sentence reads, "Given the chance, Frank would drop everything and dedicate his life to swimming the English Channel."

This sentence has the gerund "being" in it, but the past tense "was" is cleaner and more direct. The corrected sentence reads, "All of the children were sorely disappointed that the water slide was closed for repairs."

This sentence uses “being” as a gerund (a verb acting as a noun) when the infinitive is necessary. Always, when you use "find" followed by a noun and then an adjective or an adjectival phrase, you should connect the noun and adjective or adjectival phrase with the infinitive “to be.” The corrected sentence reads, "Many people find the rigorous schedule associated with campaign management to be overly fatiguing."

The adjective “afraid” is usually followed by either an infinitive (“to return”) or “of” and a gerund (“of returning”). Choose one of those to fix this sentence: "Tanner was afraid to return to the cold winters of the northern states."

This sentence uses a participle (“risen”) after “to.” Here, an infinitive is correct. If you read the sentence as it is written out loud, it will probably sound incorrect. The corrected sentence reads, "The sense of expectation in the air was almost unbearable; the curtain was supposed to rise at half past six, and it was almost seven."

The last clause in this sentence needs to be reformatted to fit into the logic of the sentence. Turning “chose” into a gerund accomplishes this. The corrected sentence reads: "A revolutionary in American dance, Isadora Duncan rejected pointe shoes and traditional stiff corsets, choosing instead to dance barefoot in loose tunics."