Participles and Participle Phrases

What is a participle?

• an ing verb placed at the beginning or end of a sentence

• Examples: chasing, running, breathing

What is a participle?

• A verb that acts as an adjective

• Present Participles end in -ing

• Past participles end in -ed, d, -t, or -en

• One word

• Must be relatively close to the noun or pronoun it modifies

• Example: Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.

Why should I care about participles?

• They evoke ACTION in your writing

• Let's take a look at an example...

The snake attacks its prey in anger.

Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the snake attacks its prey in anger.

Multiple Select

What is a participle?

• A noun that acts like a verb

• A verb that acts as a noun

• A verb that acts as an adjective.

• a verb that acts as a verb

What is a participial phrase?

• A phrase that has a verb that acts as an adjective

• Can be in the beginning, middle, or end of sentences

• Consists of that ONE word (participle), plus all the words that modify it.

• Example: Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.

• What or who does the phrase modify in this sentence?

Example

• Sarah noticed her cousin walking along the shoreline.

• The participial phrase is functions as an adjective modifying cousin.

• walking (participle)

• along the shoreline (prepositional phrase)-- this tells us where the cousin is walking.

Having been a gymnast, James knew the importance of exercise.

• The participial phrase acts as an adjective modifying James.

• Having been is the participle.

• a gymnast (subject complement)

• 
  

Punctuation

• When a participial phrase begins a sentence, a comma should be placed after the phrase.

• Example: Arriving at the store, I found that it was closed.

• Example: Washing and polishing the car, Frank developed sore muscles.

Punctuation

• If the participial phrase is placed in the middle of the sentence, it should be separated with commas only if the information is not essential (unnecessary) to the rest of the sentence.

• Sid, watching an old movie, drifted in and out of sleep.

• The church, destroyed by an old fire, was never rebuilt.

Multiple Choice

Which is correctly punctuated?

• Waiting for her ride to school. Marie saw a deer leap into the woods.

• Waiting for her ride to school, Marie saw a deer leap into the woods.

• Waiting, for her ride to school, Marie saw a deer leap into the woods.

• Waiting for her ride to school Marie, saw a deer leap into the woods.

Multiple Select

Which of the following is properly punctuated?

• The reward, announced in the newspaper, was a large sum of money.

• The reward announced in the newspaper was a large sum of money.

• The reward, announced in the newspaper was a large sum of money.

• The reward announced in the newspaper, was a large sum of money.

If the participial phrase is essential to the meaning of the sentence, no commas should be used.

• The student receiving the highest grade point average will receive a special reward.

• The guy wearing the chicken costume is my cousin.

• 
  

Multiple Choice

1. Identify the participial phrase: Diving near a reef, the marine biologist saw a shark.

• Diving near a reef,

• the marine biologist

• saw a shark

• none of the above.

Multiple Choice

2.Identify the participles in the sentence: A peeled and sliced cucumber can be added to the salad.

• peeled

• sliced

• peeled and sliced

• can be added

Multiple Choice

3.Identify the participle: The water drained slowly in the pipe clogged with dog hair.

• drained slowly

• drained

• clogged with dog hair

• clogged

Multiple Choice

In the following sentence, which word(s) is/are acting as participle: "Sweating and shaking, Mary stood up to give her presentation in front of the whole class."

• sweating

• stood

• shaking

• sweating, shaking

• None

Multiple Choice

In the following sentence, identify the participial phrase: "Shaking his closed fist, the old man yelled at the rowdy teenagers on his lawn."

• shaking

• yelled

• shaking, yelled

• shaking his closed fist

• None