Download Participial phrases

PARTICIPLES AND
PARTICIPLE PHRASES
By: Tina Pennell
Looking at Participle Phrases
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Why is it important for a student to know what a participle
and a participial phrase is?
How can proper use of participles and participial phrases
improve student writing?
What is the current debate in academia regarding the
teaching of traditional grammar and non-traditional
grammar?
What is a participle?
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“Add the suffix ing to a verb to form present participles. Add the suffix d or ed to
most verbs to form past participles. A participle can serve as a verb or an
adjective.” Mountain Man’s Field Guide to Grammar: A Fearless Adventure in Grammar, Style, and Usage. Page: 209.
Examples of Regular and Irregular Participles:
Present Participle Past Tense
Past Participle
Hoping
Hoped
Hoped
Wanting
Wanted
Wanted
Believing
Believed
Believed
Knowing
Knew
Known
Thinking
Thought
Thought
Beginning
Began
Begun
Source: The Writer’s Digest Grammar Desk Reference. Page 18
Definition of a Participle Phrase
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A participle is a verb form. Participles of regular verbs end with ing for the
present tense and d or ed for the past tense:
Boil Boiling Boiled, Scatter Scattering Scattered, Dazzle Dazzling Dazzled
A participle phrase is a participle together with it’s objects, complements,
and modifiers.
The Grammar Bible. Page 460.
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Participial phrase – a phrase that contains a participle. Such phrases can
follow noun phrases; can function like subordinate clauses to indicate time,
result, reason, and so on; or can follow an object and verb of the senses.
Participial phrases are generally used as adjectives.
Webster’s New World English Grammar Handbook. Page 355.
Examples of Participle or Participial
Phrases
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Flying into the storm, Superman risked life and
limb.
We came upon a lost child weeping
uncontrollably. Source: The Grammar Bible. Page 138.
Racing around the track, the blue car beat the red
car.
Barking at the squirrels, the dog had to be
removed from the picnic.
Modifiers and Objects of Participial
Phrases
Source: Webster’s New World English Grammar Handbook, page 206.
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“Because a participle – like gerunds and infinitives
– is, in reality, a form of a verb, it too may have
modifiers and objects. In other words, participles
may be incorporated into their own grammatical
units, the participial phrase.”
Identifying the Object of a Participle
Source: Webster’s New World English Grammar Handbook, page 20206-208.
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Working with lumber, the craftsmen manufactured beautiful
furniture.
Participial Phrase: Working with lumber
Object of the participle: lumber
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The soldiers, quickly loading their rifles, fired at the
invaders.
Participial Phrase: quickly loading their rifles
Object of the Participle: rifles
How Participles Enhance Meaning
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Participles enliven sentences and enhance meaning.
Look at the difference between the following two
descriptions:
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Tom walked into the room. He looked lonely.
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Looking lonely, Tom walked into the room.
Now You Try:
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Use participles to spice up the following sentence:
The dog sat on the porch. He scratched his ear. He
looked back into the house. Suddenly, he felt hungry.
The dog sitting on the porch scratched his ear and,
suddenly feeling hungry, looked back into the house.
Scratching his ear and suddenly feeling hungry, the dog
sitting on the porch looked back into the house.
Dangling Participles
Source: The Writer’s Digest
Grammar Desk Reference, page 48.
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Participles modify words in a sentence; therefore, it is
important that they are placed near the word they modify.
Dangling participles confuse meaning in a sentence.
Examples of Dangling Modifiers:
Sitting at the table with a knife and fork, careful to balance his
napkin properly on his lap, the goat soon made a tasty meal.
Please correct the above sentence.
Questions, Corrections, Comments
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Books used:
Mountain Man’s Field Guide to Grammar: a Fearless Adventure in
Grammar, Style and Usage. Gary Spina.
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The Grammar Bible, Michael Strumpf and Auriel Douglas.
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The Writer’s Digest Grammar Desk Reference. Lutz & Stevenson
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Webster’s English Grammar Handbook. Gordon Loberger, Ph.D. and Kate
Shoup Welsh.
Nitty-Gritty Grammar: A Not-So-Serious Guide to Clear Communication.
Edith H. Fine and Judith P. Josephson
Thank you for your time and attention.