The Participle and the Participial Phrase

What is a Participle? Looks like a verb – a “verby” looking word Ends in –ing or –ed (some irregularly formed…known) Behaves as an adjective in the sentence Modifies nouns and pronouns

What Does a Participle Look Like? EX: Leaping the fence, the cat surprised me. Leaping looks like a verb, but it really describes the cat. Surprised is the verb. EX: Defeated teams should congratulate the winners. Defeated looks like a verb, but it is an adjective that describes teams.

Your Turn To Identify Participles- A peeled and sliced cucumber needs to be added to the salad. Look for –ing and –ed words Decide if the words act as adjectives or verbs Those acting as adjectives are participles

Your Turn To Identify Participles- A peeled and sliced cucumber needs to be added to the salad. Peeled describes cucumber…adjective, thus a participle Sliced describes cucumber…adjective, thus a participle Needs is the action of the sentence…verb

What is a Participial Phrase? It begins with the participle (-ing or –ed word acting as an adjective) and also contains other related words…prepositional phrase, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs

What Does a Participial Phrase Look Like? Outwitting the hounds, the raccoons easily escaped. Outwitting is the participle…describes raccoons The hounds relates to outwitting…tells what was outwitted Outwitting the hounds is the participial phrase It tells more information about the raccoons

What Does a Participial Phrase Look Like? I saw her fishing contentedly. Fishing is the participle…describes her Contentedly is related to fishing…describes how she was fishing Fishing contentedly is the participle phrase

Your Turn To Identify Participial Phrases- Tackled on the one-yard line, Sam fumbled the ball. Look for –ing and –ed words Decide if the words act as adjectives or verbs Those acting as adjectives are participles and begin the participial phrase Identify the related words which make up the phrase

Your Turn To Identify Participial Phrases- Tackled on the one-yard line, Sam fumbled the ball. Tackled describes what happened to Sam…adjective, thus participle On the one-yard line is related to tackled… tells where Sam was tackled Fumbled tells what Sam did…verb

Participial Phrases and Commas- Sentences which begin with a participial phrase always have a comma at the end of the participial phrase Wildly cheering for the team, we celebrated the victory.

What Are You Expected To Do With Participial Phrases? Be able to locate and identify participial phrases in sentences Be able to use participial phrases in your own writing to modify and enhance your thoughts, along with adding variety to your sentence beginnings

So, What’s a dangling participle? A dangling participle does not describe the subject of the sentence. For example: DANGLING: Thrown into the air, the dog chased after the stick. CORRECT: Thrown into the air, the stick flew away from the dog. As the first sentence is written, it says that the dog, not the stick, was thrown into the air. Since the phrase does not describe the subject it is a dangling participial phrase.

More Examples DANGLING: Driving home in the storm, a branch nearly fell on my car. CORRECT: Driving home in the storm, I watched as a branch nearly fell on my car. DANGLING: Watching the play, the actors enthralled the audience. CORRECT: Watching the play, the audience was enthralled by the actors.

A Helpful Hint When you use a present participle, the subject of the sentence should be doing the action described in the participial phrase. When you write a past participle, the subject of the sentence should receive the action of the participle.

FIND THE PARTICIPIAL PHRASES IN THESE CORRECT SENTENCES. Flying from flower to flower, the bee made its way through the field. Shown in theatres everywhere, the movie set a new box office record. Painting a picture, the artist lost track of time. Left home alone by his parents, Johnny stayed up later than usual.

Walking along the beach, the waves crashed at my feet. FIGURE OUT HOW TO CORRECT THESE SENTENCES WITH DANGLING PARTICIPIAL PHRASES Surrounded by Secret Service, the crowd could barely see the President. Walking along the beach, the waves crashed at my feet. Catching the ball, the last out caused a celebration. Dropped from the table, the chair stopped the fork from hitting the floor.

PRACTICE Now try creating a sentence of your own that uses a present participial phrase. Now try creating a sentence of your own that uses a past participial phrase.