Download Participial Phrases Notes

ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #11)
NOTES-PAGE 23
PARTICIPIAL PHRASES
For the next three units we'll be learning about those verbals we talked about back in Unit #4. There are three verbals
in our language: participles, gerunds, and infinitives. This unit is about the participle.
DEFINITION: A participial phrase is a group of words beginning with a participle which acts as an ADJECTIVE.
A participle is a verb form that acts like an adjective. There are two kinds of participles:
1.)
PRESENT PARTICIPLES are verbs that end in “ing.” (giving,
taking, being, etc.)
2.)
PAST PARTICIPLES are verbs that will fit into the phrase
“I have ____” (walked, given, done, been, etc.)
If you found a participle all by itself in a sentence, you would call it an adjective because that is how it acts. You
would also diagram it as a regular adjective.
EXAMPLE:
art adj
n
av pro
A smiling policeman helped us.
policeman helped
sm
A
ili
ng
us
If, however, your participle comes in a PHRASE, it must be diagramed in a special way. You know you have a
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE when your verb form acts like a verb as well as an adjective. For example, it may have a
direct object, etc.
Since a participial phrase acts like an adjective, it is attached in the diagram to the noun or pronoun it modifies. The
pattern looks like this (it’s called a “dogleg”):
noun or pronoun being modified
pa
rt
icipal
_________
The following example diagrams show you what to do when you have a—
A.
PARTICIPLE WITH DIRECT OBJECT:
EXAMPLE:
art n
v
art adj
n hv
av
A box containing a birthday gift was delivered.
(notice that the participle is marked “v” - not “av” - because it’s a verbal.)
box
A
was delivered
co
nt
a ining
gift
a
bi
rth
da
y
(over)
!
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"
ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR (UNIT #11)
NOTES - PAGE 24
B. PARTICIPLE WITH MODIFIERS:
EXAMPLE:
pro av art n
v
pp
pn
I read a book written (by Dickens).
I
read
book
a
w
rit
ten
by
Dickens
C. PARTICIPIAL PHRASE WITH PREDICATE NOMINATIVE OR ADJECTIVE:
EXAMPLE:
v
p-adj
art n
hv
av
pp pn
Smelling delicious, the turkey was carved (by Dad).
turkey
was carved
by
Sm
el
th
e
ling
Dad
delicious
!
IMPORTANT: A participial phrase is an adjective. It can modify any noun or pronoun in the sentence. By the way,
when a participial phrase is INTRODUCTORY (in other words, it comes at the beginning of the sentence), it is set
off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
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