Participles

Which of these words is a past participle of an irregular verb?

• walked

• written

• playing

• talks

Answer explanation

A past participle is a verb form used as an adjective or to form verb tenses. 'Written' is the irregular past participle of the verb 'write'.

True or False: It is okay to place a participial phrase far away from the noun it describes.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

A participial phrase should be placed as close as possible to the noun it modifies to avoid creating a confusing or illogical sentence (a misplaced modifier).

In which sentence is the word 'studying' used as a participle?

• She is studying for her science test.

• The students studying in the library were very quiet.

• Studying is the key to getting good grades.

• My brother will be studying abroad next year.

Answer explanation

In this sentence, 'studying in the library' is a participial phrase acting as an adjective to describe 'students'. In the other options, 'studying' is part of a verb phrase or a gerund (a noun).

Complete the sentence with the correct past participle: The pizza _____ by my dad was delicious.

• making

• make

• makes

• made

Answer explanation

The past participle 'made' is used here to form a participial phrase ('made by my dad') that describes the pizza. It indicates the pizza was acted upon.

Which sentence correctly fixes the misplaced modifier? 'I gave a cookie to the dog that was wrapped in foil.'

• I gave a cookie to the dog wrapped in foil.

• Wrapped in foil, I gave a cookie to the dog.

• I gave a cookie wrapped in foil to the dog.

• The dog was given a cookie from me wrapped in foil.

Answer explanation

The participial phrase 'wrapped in foil' should describe the 'cookie', not the 'dog'. This answer places the phrase right next to the word it logically modifies.

True or False: The sentence 'Looking out the window, the birds were chirping beautifully' contains a dangling participle.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

This is a dangling participle because the person 'looking out the window' is not mentioned in the sentence. It seems like the birds were looking out the window.

Choose the best way to correct this sentence: 'Having forgotten the password, the computer would not unlock.'

• The computer, having forgotten the password, would not unlock.

• Having forgotten the password, I could not unlock the computer.

• The computer would not unlock, having forgotten the password.

• The password was forgotten, so the computer would not unlock.

Answer explanation

The original sentence has a dangling participle because the computer didn't forget the password. The corrected sentence adds the subject 'I', who logically performed the action of forgetting.

Complete the sentence using a perfect participle to show the first action was completed before the second: _____ all the chores, we were allowed to play video games.

• Finishing

• Finished

• To finish

• Having finished

Answer explanation

The perfect participle 'having finished' is used to emphasize that one action (finishing chores) was completed before the second action (playing games) began.

Complete the sentence with the correctly punctuated introductory phrase: _____ Marco realized they were in his other backpack.

• Searching for his keys

• Searching for his keys,

• He was searching for his keys

• To search for his keys,

Answer explanation

An introductory participial phrase, like 'Searching for his keys', must be followed by a comma to separate it from the main clause of the sentence.

Which is the BEST way to combine these two sentences using a participial phrase? 'The player caught the ball. He was running at full speed.'

• The player who was running at full speed caught the ball.

• The player caught the ball, and he was running at full speed.

• Running at full speed, the player caught the ball.

• The player caught the ball and was running at full speed.

Answer explanation

Using a participial phrase ('Running at full speed') at the beginning is a concise and sophisticated way to combine the two ideas into one smooth sentence.