PARTICIPLE  A PARTICIPLE is a VERB that acts as an ADJECTIVE in a sentence. giggling  The giggling clown terrified me. This PARTICIPLE describes the clown terrified is the verb/predicate of this sentence

PARTICIPLE  A PARTICIPLE is a VERB that acts as an ADJECTIVE in a sentence.  Whistling  Whistling, she ate her giant bowl of peas. This PARTICIPLE describes she ate is the verb/predicate of this sentence

 Remember, a PHRASE is NOT a complete sentence.  It lacks a subject OR a predicate  It’s something EXTRA that we add to the main clause of a sentence.  The dancing monkey

 Running with skill and speed,  Running with skill and speed, Miguel moved the soccer ball down the field in less than a minute. Notice, the comma offsets the phrase from the main sentence The word “running” is a participle

 Running with skill and speed,  Running with skill and speed, Miguel moved the soccer ball down the field in less than a minute. A Participial Phrase can START A SENTENCE

,running with skill and speed.  Miguel moved the soccer ball down the field in less than a minute, running with skill and speed. A Participial Phrase can CLOSE A SENTENCE

,running with skill and speed,  Miguel,running with skill and speed, moved the soccer ball down the field in less than a minute. A Participial Phrase can go in the middle, BETWEEN the SUBJECT and the VERB

frozen over since early December  The pond, frozen over since early December, should now be safe for ice-skating. Notice: Some verbs have an irregular past tense

 Covered in mustard and relish  Covered in mustard and relish, Matt enjoyed the hot dog.  Hmmm…Was Matt covered in mustard and relish? Or was the hot dog?

 Covered in mustard and relish  Covered in mustard and relish, the hot dog was the tastiest hot dog that Matt had ever enjoyed.  Now it’s clear that the hot dog was covered in mustard and relish!

 Flying over the African landscape,  Flying over the African landscape, the elephant herd looked magnificent.  This makes it sound like the elephant herd was flying.

 Flying over the African landscape,  Flying over the African landscape, we spotted the magnificent-looking elephant herd.  Now it’s clear that we were flying, not the elephants.

 Eating cold pizza  Eating cold pizza is my favorite breakfast.  Eating cold pizza  Eating cold pizza, my mom gave me a look of disgust when I refused to take out the trash. This is a gerund phrase—an ing verb acting as a NOUN You can tell this is a participial phrase because it’s serving as an ADJECTIVE to describe “mom”