Participial Phrases

1
Participial Phrases

• Mrs. Henson
• English III AP
• Adapted from Sentence Composing for High School
  Students by Don Killgallon

2
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

3
Models

• Without Participles

• With Participles

• The sun rose clear and bright.
• Spencer took half an hour.

• 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

4
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

5
Unscrambling 1

1. black
2. a little house
3. perched on high piles
4. in the distance
5. appeared

• A little house, perched on high piles, appeared
  black in the distance.
• -Joseph Conrad, The Lagoon

6
Unscrambling 2

1. with the cautious, half-furtive effort of the
   sightless
2. and thumping his way before him
3. he was a blind beggar
4. 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

7
Unscrambling 3

1. and yet knowing no way to avoid it
2. that winter my mother and brother came
3. buying furniture on the installment plan
4. and we set up housekeeping
5. 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