Participles & Participial Phrases

1. Participles &Participial Phrases

2. A participle is a form of a verb that can act as an adjective. • Ex: The waving campers boarded the bus. • Waving, the campers boarded the bus. • [In these sentences, waving, like the verb wave, expresses action; like an adjective, it modifies the noun campers.]

3. We could hear the wind howling. • [Here howling expresses action, like a verb; it also modifies the noun wind.

4. There are 3 forms of participles:

5. Remember: If the word expresses the action of the sentence, it is a verb.

6. Participial Phrase • A participial phrase is a phrase containing a participle and any complements or modifiers it may have. • The participle introduces the phrase, and the entire phrase acts as an adjective to modify a noun or a pronoun. EX: Nodding his head, the defendant acknowledged his guilt. Disturbed by his letter, she telephoned him.

7. A participial phrase can either follow or precede the word it modifies. • A participial phrase that is nonessential to the basic meaning of a sentence is set off by commas or other forms of punctuation. One that is essential is not enclosed by punctuation.

8. Exercise 1 • Number your paper 1 to 8. List the participial phrase found in each sentence and the word it modifies. • 1. Staking her reputation on her success, Junko Tabei climbed Mt. Everest, hoping to reach the top in May. • 2. Delighted by penicillin’s discovery, Fleming duplicated his experiments with Florey. • 3. Their procedure, arrived at with such great care and effort, made their reputation. • 4. Nellie Melba, thrilled by her successful career, retired repeatedly. • 5. Delayed by wind and rain, the Spanish Armada arrived too late.

9. 6. Drumming his wings wildly, the male pheasant tries to attract the females attention. • 7. The male pheasant, once firmly convinced of the female’s interest, begins to accelerate the drumbeats expressing his excitement. • 8. Flamingoes, stretching their wings and bowing, perform an elaborate courtship dance, a spectacular sight in nature.

10. Answers • 1. Staking her reputation on her successmodifies JunikoTabei • 2. Delighted by penicillin’s discovery, Fleming • 3. arrived at with such great care and effort modifies procedure • 4.thrilled by her successful career, modifies Nellie Melba • 5. Delayed by wind and rain, modifies the Spanish Armada.

11. Answers cont. • 6. Drumming his wings wildly, male pheasant • 7. once firmly convinced of the female’s interest, male pheasant • 8. stretching their wings and bowing Flamingoes