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
A PARTICIPLE is a VERB that acts as an
ADJECTIVE in a sentence.
The giggling clown terrified me.
This PARTICIPLE
describes the clown
terrified is the
verb/predicate
of this
sentence
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
A PARTICIPLE is a VERB that acts as an
ADJECTIVE in a sentence.
Whistling, she ate her giant bowl of peas.
This PARTICIPLE
describes she
ate is the
verb/predicate
of this
sentence
 Remember, a PHRASE is NOT a
complete sentence.
 It lacks a subject OR a predicate
 It’s something EXTRA that we add
to the main clause of a sentence.
 The dancing monkey
 Running with skill and speed,
Miguel moved the soccer ball
down the field in less than a
minute.
The word
“running” is a
participle
Notice, the comma
offsets the phrase
from the main
sentence
 Running with skill and speed,
Miguel moved the soccer ball
down the field in less than a
minute.
A Participial Phrase can
START A SENTENCE
 Miguel moved the soccer ball
down the field in less than a
minute, running with skill and
speed.
A Participial Phrase can
CLOSE A SENTENCE
 Miguel ,running with skill and
speed, moved the soccer ball
down the field in less than a
minute.
A Participial Phrase can go in
the middle, BETWEEN the
SUBJECT and the VERB
 Garrett smiled and felt warm and
tingly, excit that he was about
to hear the new Justin Beiber
album for the first time.
 The pond, frozen over since early
December, should now be safe
for ice-skating.
Notice: Some verbs
have an irregular
past tense
 Covered in mustard and relish,
Matt enjoyed the hot dog.
 Hmmm…Was Matt covered in
mustard and relish? Or was the hot
dog?
 Covered in mustard and relish,
the hot dog was the tastiest hot
dog that Matt had ever enjoyed.
 Now it’s clear that the hot dog was
covered in mustard and relish!
 Flying over the African landscape, the
elephant herd looked magnificent.
 This makes it sound like the elephant
herd was flying.
 Flying over the African landscape, we
spotted the magnificent-looking
elephant herd.
 Now it’s clear that we were flying,
not the elephants.
 Eating cold pizza is my favorite
breakfast.
This is a gerund phrase—an ing verb acting as a NOUN
 Eating cold pizza, my mom gave me a
look of disgust when I refused to take
out the trash.
You can tell this is a participial phrase because it’s serving
as an ADJECTIVE to describe “mom”