Participial Phrases
Mrs. Henson
English III AP
* Adapted from Sentence Composing for High School Students by Don Killgallon
Overview
• Participles describe nouns or pronouns.
• Participle is a verbal (look like a verb, but is not).
• Can end in –ing (present participle) or –ed
(past participle).
• Can occur as:
– Sentence Openers
– Subject-Verb Split
– Sentence Closers
Models
Without Participles
• The sun rose clear and
bright.
• Spencer took half an
hour.
With Participles
• The sun rose clear and bright,
tinging the foamy crests of the
waves with a reddish purple.
• Alexander Dumas, Count of Monte
Cristo
• Spencer took half an hour,
swimming in one of the pools
which was filled with the
seasonal rain, waiting for the
pursuers to catch up to him.
• Ray Bradbury, The Martian
Chronicles
Placement of Participial Phrases
• Sentence Openers
– Whistling, he let the escalator waft him into the
still night air.
– Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
• Subject-Verb Splits
– Eckels, balanced on the narrow path, aimed his
rifle playfully.
– Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder”
• Sentence Closers
– The entire crowd in the saloon gathered about me
now, urging me to drink.
– Richard Wright, Black Boy
Unscrambling #1
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
black
a little house
perched on high piles
in the distance
appeared
A little house, perched
on high piles, appeared
black in the distance.
-Joseph Conrad, “The
Lagoon”
Unscrambling #2
A. with the cautious, halffurtive effort of the
sightless
B. and thumping his way
before him
C. he was a blind beggar
D. carrying the traditional
battered cane
He was a blind beggar,
carrying the traditional
battered cane and
thumping his way
before him with the
cautious, half-furtive
effort of the sightless.
-MacKinlay Kantor,
“A Man Who Had No Eyes”
Unscrambling #3
A. and yet knowing no
way to avoid it
B. that winter my
mother and brother
came
C. buying furniture on
the installment plan
D. and we set up
housekeeping
E. being cheated
That winter my mother
and brother came, and
we set up
housekeeping, buying
furniture on the
installment plan, being
cheated, and yet
knowing no way to
avoid it.
-Richard Wright, Black Boy