Something about Participles

A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective. It does the work of both a verb and an adjective. The term verbal indicates that a participle, like the other two kinds of verbals (gerund and infinitive), is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since they function as adjectives, participles modify nouns or pronouns. There are two types of participles: present participles and past participles. Present participles end in -ing. sometimes doubling the final consonant:

"think" becomes "thinking"

"fall" becomes "falling"

"run" becomes "running"

Past participles end in -ed, -en, -d, -t, or -n, as in the words asked, eaten, saved, dealt, and seen.

A participial phrase is a group of words consisting of a participle and the modifier(s) and/or (pro)noun(s) or noun phrase(s) that function as the direct object(s), indirect object(s), or complement(s) of the action or state expressed in the participle, such as:

* The student earning the highest grade point average will receive a special award.

* The guy wearing the chicken costume is my cousin. Find the participial phrases in these sentences and tell what word they modify.

1. The man running slowly still finished the race.

2. The boy having been scolded finally did his work.

3. The teacher, having retired, could now travel widely.

4. The soldier, having saluted his superior, continued on his way.

5. The truck swerving and sliding hit the brick wall.

Keys:

1. running slowly modifies man

2. having been scolded modifies boy

3. having retired modifies teacher

4. having saluted his superior modifies soldier

5. swerving and sliding modifies truck

You can shorten a normal sentence by using the Participle Constructions.

I'm a lucky man feeling like you.

(I'm a lucky man who is feeling like you.)

The students wanting extra help were assigned to a special class.

(The students who wanted extra help were assigned to a special class.)

The screaming fans cheered their fighting team.

(The fans who were screaming cheered their team that were fighting.)

Let sleeping dogs lie.

(Let dogs that are sleeping lie.)