1 Avoiding Dangling Participles Prepared for classroom use by ASU English Education student Jason McKenzie

2 Introduction What’s a Participle? In a participial phrase, a verb is changed into a verbal by adding –ing, or an –en (or equivalent) ending. The verbal then acts as an adjective to describe the subject of the sentence, e. g. Walking home from school today, I saw a man with his dog. In this example, walking and all the modifiers that come with it form the participial phrase, which describes I.

3  Introductory participial phrases should describe the subject of the sentence.  Just like a normal adjective, participial phrases should describe the closest noun or pronoun in the sentence.

4 -ing Phrases: Present Participial (functioning as a modifier) Gerund Phrases (functioning as noun replacements)  A present participial phrase or a gerund phrase is a verbal with an –ing ending. For example:  Being in the Olympics for the first time, the athlete was nervous.  Running around the track tired me out.  Leaving my breakfast on the table I rushed out to catch the bus.

5 Past Participial Phrases  A past participial phrase has a verb ending in –en or –ed or their equivalents. for example:  Voted off the island, Mary left the show.  Pushed from the table, the plate shattered.  Left behind, the little girl screamed.

6 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.

7 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.

8 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.

9 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.

10 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.

11 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.