Participial
Phrases
What is a participial phrase?
A participial phrase is an -ing
phrase tagged onto the
beginning or end of a
sentence.
See it!
Simple sentence: The
elephant charged the
lions.
Revised sentence with
participial phrase:
Roaring a loud
warning screech, the
elephant charged the
lions.
Notice how the single –ing participial
phrase adds specific details to one action
in the image?
Examples
Participle with an adverb becomes a phrase:
Working quickly, we decorated
(participle)
(adverb)
her locker in fifteen minutes.
Examples continued
Participle with a prepositional phrase becomes a
participial phrase.
John, fishing from the pier,
(participle) (prepositional phrase)
caught three starfish.
Examples continued…
Participial phrase at the end of a sentence.
With fascination we watched
the spider spinning its web.
(participle)
Your turn!
Example: Weighing almost three
pounds, a hailstone once fell and
dented my mom’s car.
Answer: weighing almost three
pounds.
(almost three pounds is a prepositional phrase)
Give it a try!
1.
2.
Of all the symbols appearing on
national flags, the star is the most
common.
Measuring about 64 million square miles,
the Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest
body of water.
Practice continued…
4.
5.
6.
Working continuously, the human
heart beats more than 2.5 billion
times in a lifetime.
The Panama Canal, completed in
1914, cost about $350 million.
A person weighing 100 pounds on
Earth would weigh 38 pounds on
Mars.
three more to go.
7.
8.
9.
The Shell Oil Company started out as
a novelty shop selling seashells.
The world’s oldest gloves,
discovered in King Tut’s tomb, are
over 3,300 years old.
The polar regions contain over half
of Earth‘s fresh water, trapped in
ice.
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
appearing on national flags
measuring about 64 square miles
Working continuously
completed in 1914
weighing 100 pounds
started out as a novelty shop
discovered in King Tut’s tomb
trapped in ice.
Exit Ticket
The cheetah gained on
the injured zebra.
The skateboarder
soared over the railing.