Meet the Participle3
VERBALS
A VERBAL is any verb form that is used in a sentence not as a verb but as another part of
speech. Like verbs, verbals can be modified by an adverb or adverbial phrase. They can also
be followed by a complement. A verbal used with a modifier or a complement is called a verbal
phrase.
Participles are verb forms with two basic uses. When they are used with helping verbs,
they are verbs. When they are used alone to modify nouns or pronouns, they become
adjectives.
A participle is a form of a verb that is often used as an adjective.
There are two kinds of participles, present participles and past participles. Each kind can
be recognized by its ending.
All present participle end in –ing.
EXAMPLES: talking
doing
eating
Most past participles end in either –ed or in –d. EXAMPLES: opened
wanting
jumped played
Other past participles end in –n, -t, -en or another irregular ending.
EXAMPLES: grown
felt
bought
eaten
held
Both present and past participles can be used in sentences as adjectives.
They tell what kind and which ones.
Present Participles
She led a walking tour.
Speaking slowly, he gave us directions.
Past Participles
Chilled fruit juice is refreshing.
She was, by then, a grown woman.
Participle or Verb? Sometimes, verb phrases (verbs with helping verbs) are confused with
participles. A verb phrase always begins with a helping verb. A participle used as an adjective
stands by itself and modifies a noun or a pronoun.
Verb Phrases
The bicyclist was racing around the corner.
Explorers may have traveled down this road.
Participles
The racing bicyclist crashed into the tree.
The traveled road led to the finish line.
OVER
A PARTICIPLE PHRASE is a present or past participle and its modifiers. The entire phrase
acts as an adjective in a sentence.
Participle phrases can be formed by adding an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or a
complement to a participle.
EXAMPLES:
The teacher, speaking slowly, explained the essay requirements. (Adverb slowly added to the participle speaking.)
The well-known instructor, honored by the award, began his speech. (The adverbial phrase by the award added to the
participle honored.)
A participle phrase can also be placed at the beginning of a sentence. The phrase is usually followed
by a comma.
EXAMPLE:
Honored by the award, the well-known instructor began his speech.
WATCH OUT FOR DANGLING PARTICIPLES!
A participle phrase that begins a sentence and does not connect to the noun or pronoun that is the
subject of the sentence is a dangling participle. When participial phrases at the beginning of the
sentences don’t give information about the subject of the sentence, the sentence will not make
sense.
The first sentence contains a dangling participle; the second sentence has been rewritten and uses
the participial phrase correctly.
Bellowing, fuming, and snorting smoke, the forest was burned. (Was the forest bellowing, fuming, and
snorting?)
Bellowing, fuming, and snorting smoke, the dragon watched the forest burn.
Checking the weather, the gray clouds moved to the east. (Are the clouds checking the weather?
Checking the weather, the Oz meteorologist said that the gray clouds were moving to the east.
WRITING ACTIVITY:
WRITE YOUR OWN PARTICIPLE POEM
(IN YOUR WRITER’S NOTEBOOK…)
FIRST, list people (professions), characters, animals that you are not:
Example: astronaut, deep sea diver, circus clown, magician, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Big Bad Wolf, Snow
White, porcupine, dolphin, squirrel, etc.
SECOND, choose three. Example: deep sea diver, Rapunzel, hawk.
THIRD, create three stanzas that contain three participial phrases for each topic.
Begin each stanza with this line: I am not _________________________.
Follow this line with three participial phrases.
Example:
I am not a deep sea diver,
Swimming among schools of radiant fish,
Exploring watery depths,
Breathing from lungs on my back.
I am not a hawk,
soaring through the wind-swept skies
perching alone on a gnarled tree limb.
Searching fields for mouse-movements.
I am not Rapunzel,
sitting alone in a tower,
wating for a day I can escape,
letting down my long hair.
Your PARTICIPLE POEM must be TYPED in an easily readable 14-point
font, minimum of 3 Stanzas, and 4 lines each-Total of 12 lines.
Your poem is due on________________________________________.