Transcript Participial Phrase - Home

Participial Phrases
Participial

Describes Noun or Pronouns
Present Participles end in “-ing”
 Past Participles end in “-ed”


Can be sentence openers, subject-verb
split, sentence closer
Participle Examples
nouns/pronouns underlined; PARTICIPLES are
capitalized; participial phrases are bold faced

Present Participles

She was quite far from the windows which were to
her left, and behind her were a couple of tall
bookcases, CONTAINING all the books in the
factory library. (Hiroshima by John Hersey)

STANDING there in the middle of the street,
Marty suddenly thought of Halloween, of the winter
and snowballs of the schoolyard. (“The New Kid”
by Murray Heyert)
Participle Examples
nouns/pronouns underlined; PARTICIPLES are
capitalized; participial phrases are bold faced

Past Participles

In six months a dozen small towns had been laid
down upon the naked planet, FILLED with the
sizzling neon tubes and yellow electric bulbs.
(The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury)

ENCHANTED and ENTHRALLED, I stopped her
constantly for details. (Black Boy by Richard Wright)
Sentence Scrambles:
ID the Participial phrase and write out the
sentences, find the BEST structure
1)
a. was waiting on the landing outside
b. Bernard
c. wearing a black turtleneck sweater, dirty flannels,
and slippers
(from Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
2) a. lost his grip
b. dropping helplessly straight down toward the far
end of the trailer
c. and fell free
d. Malcolm
(from Michael Crichton The Lost World)
Sentence Scrambles:
ID the Participial phrase and write out the
sentences, find the BEST structure
1) a. black
b. a little house
c. perched on high piles
d. in the distance
e. appeared
(from Joseph Conrad ”The Lagoon”)
2) a. screaming and begging to be allowed to go with
her mother
b. when we had made our way downstairs
c. saw the woman with the lovely complexion
d. Miss Pilzer
e. we
(from Gerda Weissmann Klein All But My Life)
Sentence Scrambles:
ID the 2 Participial phrases and write out the
sentences for the best sentence—punctuate!
3) a. with the cautious, half-furtive effort of the
sightless
b. and thumping his way before him
c. he was a blind beggar
d. carrying the traditional battered cane
(from MacKinlay Kantor ”A Man Who Had No Eyes” )
4) a. all had the look of invalids crawling into the
hospital on their last legs
b. the passengers
c. blinking their eyes against the blinding sunlight
d. emerging from the mildewed dimness of the
customs sheds
(from Katherine Anne Porter Ship of Fools)
Imitation—Unscramble the sentence to
make it match the model’s structure
MODEL: As he ran away into the darkness, they
repented of their weakness and ran after him,
swearing and throwing sticks and great balls of
soft mud at the figure that screamed and ran faster
and faster into the darkness.
1) A. as her arm whirled fast over the egg whites
B. and stared at it
C. and expressing confusion and frustration over the third direction
in the recipe
D. her face shifted toward the cookbook
E. grimacing
F. that listed and explained more and ever more of the procedure
Imitation—Unscramble the sentence to
make it match the model’s structure
MODEL: As he ran away into the darkness, they
repented of their weakness and ran after him,
swearing and throwing sticks and great balls of
soft mud at the figure that screamed and ran faster
and faster into the darkness.
2) A. stretching
B. that beckoned but hid farther and farther from his reach
C. after Jo-Jo climbed higher onto the counter
D. but missing jars and boxes in the rear with bright colors
E. he pulled on the doors
F. and looked for the candy
Combining and Imitating—Take and rewrite
the content to imitate the model given
Model: The sound of the monotonous ax blows rang
through the forest, and the insects, nodding upon
their perches, crooned like old women. (Stephen
Crane The Red Badge of Courage)
1.
A. A pile of new debris was doing something.
B. It cluttered up the driveway.
C. In addition, and the tenants who were gazing at
the disgrace.
D. They watched with heavy hearts.
Combining and Imitating—Take and rewrite
the content to imitate the model given
Model: He stood there, his coat wet, holding his wet
hat, and said nothing. (Ernest Hemingway A
Farewell to Arms)
2. A. The dog did something.
B. He sat up.
C. His mouth was clenching the rolled newspaper.
D. He was wagging his tail.
E. In addition, he begged a reward.
Combining and Imitating—Take and rewrite the content to imitate the model given
Model: The strength that had been as a miracle in her body left,
and she half-reeled across the floor, clutching at the back of
the chair in which she had spent so many days staring
out over the tin roofs into the main street of Winesburg.
a. The meeting had been like something.
b. It had been like a marathon among meetings.
c. The meeting continued.
d. In addition, the leader deliberated about his strategy.
e. He was stalling after the last remarks from the
representative.
f. The representative was the one with whom he had planned
something.
g. What they had planned were so many emergency plots
focusing upon every conceivable tactic.
h. The tactic was for the suppression of the opposition.
Expanding—at the slash mark add a
participial phrase.
1)
2)
3)
4)
With the core of the reel showing, his heart
feeling stopped with excitement, leaning /,
Nick thumbed the reel hard with his left hand.
Mrs. Carpenter was putting sun-tan oil on
Sybil’s shoulders, spreading /.
Soon the men began to gather, surveying /,
speaking /.
The Carpathia ship’s passengers pitched in
gallantly to help the survivors of the Titanic,
providing /, lending /, sewing /.
Expanding—at the slash mark add a
participial phrase.
1)
2)
3)
4)
The children crawled over the shelves and in
to the potato and onion bins, /.
He, /, at once looked over his shoulder at her
and, /, signaled that he would meet her.
In the late afternoon, the truck came back, /
and /, and there was a layer of dust in the
bed, and the hood was covered with dust,
and the headlights were obscured with a red
flour.
He stood there, / and /, /.
Put the Participials to work. Write 1
sentence which includes the following:
2 participial phrases that identify 2 objects,
persons, or places within the same sentence
 Each participial phrase needs to be over 10
words long.

Examples: Harry Potter, racing on a broomstick
to avoid a brutal and cruel fate, decided he
was far enough ahead of Lord Voldemort,
making his way closer and closer to his
frightened prey.
Put the Participials to work. Write 2
sentences which include the following:
2 participial phrases that identify 2 objects,
persons, or places within the same sentence
 Each participial phrase needs to be over 10
words long.

Examples: Running her life into the ground
like an unmanned aircraft carrier in a
puddle, Britney Spears crashed into a car,
parked innocently in the middle of the road
with racing flares on the side.
Put the Participials AND Appositives to work.
Write 3 sentences which include the following:
 1 participial phrase that identifies an object,
person, or place within the same sentence
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
AND 1 appositive phrase that identifies an object,
person, or place within the same sentence
Each phrase needs to be over 10 words long.
Examples: Bonney Lake High School, a new
school in Pierce County which opened in
just 2005, is full of school spirit, infecting all
the staff and students in the school with a
feverish energy.