Skill Two: Participial Phrase Sentence Composing Skill Two: Participial Phrase

Spencer took half an hour. Here are 2 sentences written by professional writers, but with some parts deleted: We could see the lake and the mountains across the lake on the French side. Spencer took half an hour.

Now compare those sentences w/ the originals: Sitting up in bed eating breakfast, we could see the lake and the mountains across the lake on the French side. – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms Spencer took half an hour, swimming in one of the pools which was filled with the seasonal rain, waiting for the pursuers to catch up to him. – Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Participial Phrase Describe nouns or pronouns. Present participles always end in –ing. Past participles usually end in –ed. They can occur as sentence openers, subject-verb splits, or sentence closers. Hint: Although both appositive and participial phrases modify nouns and pronouns, appositive phrases act as noun phrases (often begin with “a,” “an,” or “the”) whereas participial phrases act as adjective phrases and describe what the noun is doing/the action.

Sentence Openers Whistling, he let the escalator waft him into the still night air. – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 Looking over their own troops, they saw mixed masses slowly getting into regular form. – Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Subject-Verb Splits The tent, illumined by candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the plain. – Jack London, The Call of the Wild Her hair, braided and wrapped around her head, made an ash- blonde crown. – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Sentence Closers In six months a dozen small towns had been laid down upon the naked planet, filled with sizzling neon tubes and yellow electric bulbs. – Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles The entire crowd in the saloon gathered about me now, urging me to drink. – Richard Wright, Black Boy

Your task: Each scrambled sentence has one or more participial phrases. Unscramble the sentence parts and write out the sentence on your white board, punctuating it correctly. Underline the participial phrase(s). When your group is done, raise your hands quietly and Ms. Preusser will check your response. Two strikes and you’re out this time. The first group to unscramble all three sentences correctly wins!

Original Sentences: Standard 1. Bernard, wearing a black turtleneck sweater, dirty flannels, and slippers, was waiting on the landing outside. – Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne 2. Malcolm lost his grip and fell free, dropping helplessly down toward the far end of the trailer. – Micheal Crichton, The Lost World 3. Coming down the pole, I had a sense of being whirled violently through the air with no control over my movements. – Richard E. Byrd, Alone

Original Sentences: Honors 6. He was a blind beggar, carrying the traditional battered cane and thumping his way before him with the cautious, half-furtive effort of the sightless. – MacKinlay Kantor, “A Man Who Had No Eyes” 7. The passengers, emerging from the mildewed dimness of the customs sheds, blinking their eyes against the blinding sunlight, all had the look of invalids crawling into the hospital on their last legs. – Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools 8. That winter my mother and brother came, and we set up housekeeping, buying furniture on the installment plan, being cheated, and yet knowing no way to avoid it. – Richard Wright, Black Boy

Your task: In your Othello essay, incorporate and label (use the comment feature) at least 3 participial phrases. You need at least 1 of each type: Sentence opener Subject-verb split Sentence closer