Download Lesson 10. Gerunds, present participles and hanging modifiers

Mastering English Made Easy
Gerunds, present participles and dangling modifiers
1. A gerund is a verbal noun or a verb used as a noun ie it is part verb part noun. Gerunds end in ing. For
example, look at the two sentences:
He is fond of singing. He is fond of his guitar.
If we ask, ‘What is he fond of?’, we get the answer He is fond of singing in the first instance and He is
fond of his guitar in the second. You can see how singing and guitar are used similarly.
Here, singing is a gerund.
The old man got tired of walking. The old man got tired of his old radio. What did the old man get tired
of? In the first sentence, walking is a gerund.
The prisoner was prevented from seeing his family.
Seeing, walking and seeing are most often used as verbs. Example:
He is playing cricket. The old man is walking slowly. He is not seeing my point of view.
2. Present participle
A participle is that form of a verb which is part verb and part adjective. Example:
Seeing the car crash, he went into a shock.
Hearing the burglar in the next room, the boy hid under the bed.
Hearing and seeing as used in these sentences are known as present participles. These forms also end in
ing. (There are past participles too which end in ed.) They tell us something about he and the boy.
The phrases Seeing the car crash and Hearing the burglar in the next room are known as participle
phrases or modifiers. These phrases modify or say something about a noun or pronoun used in the
sentence ie they describe the noun/pronoun, and so act partly as adjectives.
Seeing the car crash, he went into a shock tells us about he. He saw a car crash and went into a shock.
Hearing the burglar in the next room, the boy hid under the bed. He heard the burglar in the next room
and hid under the bed.
3.
Sometimes these phrases are used wrongly and it is not clear to which noun or pronoun the
participle phrase is relating to ie the phrase does not have a proper subject of reference. Example:
Standing at the gate, the scorpion stung him. It seems to suggest that the scorpion was standing at the
gate!
Such phrases are called dangling modifiers/hanging participles/dangling participles. What happened
was: He was standing at the gate. He was stuck by a scorpion.
The correct sentence would be:
Standing at the gate, he was stuck by a scorpion. Or, better still: While standing at the gate, he was
stuck by a scorpion.
Or, without using the participle form, we can say :
As he stood at the gate, he was stuck by a scorpion.
Similarly, "Sipping cocktails on the balcony, the moon looked magnificent." Really? What cocktail does
the moon prefer? Actually: He sipped cocktails on the balcony. He thought the moon looked
magnificent.
This sentence should be:
While sipping cocktails on the balcony, he thought that the moon looked magnificent.
We could also say:
As he stood sipping cocktails on the balcony, he thought that the moon looked magnificent.
We can combine sentences using participle phrases thus:
The magician took pity on the mouse. He turned him into a lion.
Taking pity on the mouse, the magician turned him into a lion.
When the subjects of the two sentences are not the same:
The people had taken their seats. The train was now ready to leave the station.
The people having taken their seats, the train was now ready to leave the station.
The porter opened the door. We entered the house.
The porter having opened the door, we entered the house.
© Varsha Jain 08.10.2016