Name: ______________________________________________________ Date: ___________

English: _____

PARTICIPLES
Objective: To identify present and past participles in text.
~ PARTICIPLES FUNCTION AS ADJECTIVES ~
Past participles (ending in ed) and present participles (ending in ing) function as adjectives that
describe nouns.
Examples:
1. The cr ying baby drew a long breat h and sucked in a fruit fl y circling in the air.
o Which baby? The crying baby.
o Which spider? The one that was crouching in the corner.
2. The mangled pair of sunglasses, br uised face, brok en arm, and bleeding knees
meant Gina had taken another spill on her mountain bike.
o Which pair of sunglasses? The mangled pair.
o Which face? The bruised one.
o Which arm? The broken one.
o Which knees? The bleeding ones.

EXERCISE 1: Participles in simple sentences.

Directions: Read each sentence carefully. Underline the participle twice. Circle the noun it
modifies. Draw an arrow connecting the participle to the circled noun.
Example:
The spoiled child whined until her mother bought her a new toy.

1. The crying baby had a wet diaper.

2. Shaken, Damon walked away from the wrecked car.
3. The burning log fell off the fire.
4. Smiling, Tori hugged the panting dog.
5. Mark ate a boiled egg for breakfast.
6. I like to see smiling faces.
7. The meowing cat wanted love and affection.
8. The watered plants still drooped in the corner.
9. Tired and exhausted, the students trudged through first period.
10. My footsteps crunched on the shattered glass.

EXERCISE 2: Participles in more complex sentences.

Directions: Read each sentence carefully. Underline the participle twice. Circle the noun it
modifies. Draw an arrow connecting the participle to the circled noun.
Example:
As the spoiled childs frazzled mother reached for the new toy, a conniving smile
played on the little girls lips.

1. The ticking clock counted down the final minutes of the Warrior vs. Hornets
championship soccer game.
2. As Nick stood, exhausted and over-heated, at the edge of the goalie box, the opposing
team, the Hornets, set up for a penalty kick.
3. At the same time, Nicks own Warrior team members formed an angled line, a human
wall, to help block the forthcoming shot.
4. Crouching slightly, Nick prepared for the dreaded penalty kick and silently prayed for a
miracle.
5. The focused Hornet kicker, wound up his bruised leg, swung his cleated foot, and
clobbered the grass-stained ball.
6. Sailing, the ball arched over the stunned Warrior players, who then scrambled to guard
green-shirted Hornet players.
7. Waiting anxiously, Nick eyed the flying soccer ball as it lobbed right toward the left side
of the sprawling net.
8. Immediately, Nick sprung from his crouching position and leaped toward the ball,
stretching and elongating his body to reach as far as he could.
9. With micrometers to spare, Nicks gloved fingertips slapped the ball and pushed it away
from the now-protected net.
10. Excited cheers roared from the stands, and screaming players and fans rushed the
muddied field to celebrate the mind-blowing victory.

EXERCISE 3: Participles in a paragraph.

Directions: Read the paragraph and each sentence carefully. Underline the participle twice.
Circle the noun it modifies. Draw an arrow connecting the participle to the circled noun. See
the examples above to remember how to mark up the participles.

As a small girl, I loved to help my talented mother bake her mouth-watering cookies. At
Christmastime, my mom would bake twenty different types of cookies. Their amazing aroma
filled the entire house and gave warmth during the freezing winters. Frozen and frost-bitten, I
would return from school to find freshly baked cookies lining the cooling racks on the kitchen
counters. After hours of work, decorated sugar cookies, chocolate-dipped pretzels, melting
chocolate chips, jellied split-second bars, and crumbled peanut brittle all filled Moms special
holiday-themed cookie tins. The best part was that, on Christmas night, my extended family and
I would sit for unlimited hours around the cookie-littered table, talking and nibbling cookies.

PARTICIPIAL PHRASES

Objective: To identify present and past participles in text.

~ PARTICIPIAL PHRASES = PARTICIPLE + MODIFIERS ~
A participial phrase is a group of words consisting of a participle and the modifier(s).
Examples:
1. Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.
o The participial phrase functions as an adjective modifying Jack.
o Removing (participle)
o His coat (modifiers)
2. Delores noticed her cousin walking along the shoreline.
o The participial phrase functions as an adjective modifying cousin.
o walking (participle)
o along the shoreline (modifiers)
3. Children introduced to music early develop strong intellectual skills.
o The participial phrase functions as an adjective modifying children.
o introduced (to) (participle)
o music early (modifiers)

EXERCISE 4: Participial Phrases in Sentences

Directions: Read each sentence carefully. Underline the entire participial phrase once, and the
participle twice. Circle the noun it modifies. Draw an arrow connecting the participle to the
circled noun.
1. Carrying a heavy pile of books, his foot caught on a step.
2. Washing and polishing the car, Brandon developed sore muscles.
3. The church, destroyed by a fire, was never rebuilt.
4. The guy wearing the chicken costume is my cousin.
5. Brian, arriving early, noticed that something was strange in Rm. 2159
6. The lawn mower, ruined by the rain, would not start.
7. The man teaching the class is Mr. Stanton
8. The window broken by Ryans baseball was an expensive one.

9. The teacher giving the fewest homework assignments gets a prize.

10. Wounded by the porcupine, Tom had to be taken to the emergency room.
11. A special safety film will be shown to the students taking drivers education.
12. Embarrassed by all the attention on the court, Meghan nodded shyly to the audience.
13. The mountain-like structures seen on the surface of Mars are actually natural formations.
14. My sister, Molly, has read every book written by J.R.R. Tolkien.
15. Scanning the sky for clouds, the hikers plodded on slowly.
16. Barack Obama, hearing the results of the election, smiled happily.
17. Mr. Quinlan, presenting his students with the trophy, looked a bit undecided.
18. Driving through the rains, we could barely see the road.
19. Tired and aching from practice, Jared and Steve limped home.
20. All students having honor cards can elect to not take a final exam.
21. The person seated by Anna is Nick.
22. Jeff, dribbling down the court, showed his dominance.
23. Our swimsuits, drenched with water, were in a heap on the bathroom floor.
24. Waving and shouting, the shipwrecked crew rejoiced as the rescue plane came near.
25. Tired from a long hike, the group thought even a meal of crackers sounded tempting.

~ A CLARIFYING NOTE ON COMMAS ~

Phrases at the BEGINNING of a sentence:

= Place a COMMA after the phrase.
Arriving at the store, I found that it was closed.
Participle or Participial Phrase IN THE MIDDLE of a sentence:
= Information IS ESSENTIAL to the meaning of the sentence, NO COMMAS
The student earning the highest grade point average will receive a special award.
= Information IS NOT ESSENTIAL to the meaning of the sentence, USE COMMAS
Sid, watching an old movie, drifted in and out of sleep.
Participial Phrase at the END of a sentence:
= Phrase directly follows the word it modifies, NO COMMAS.
The local residents often saw Ken wandering through the streets.
(The phrase modifies Ken, not residents.)
= Phrase does NOT directly follow the word it modifies, USE COMMAS
Tom nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence.
(The phrase modifies Tom, not woman.)
Therefore, participles and participial phrases must be placed as close to the nouns or pronouns
they modify as possible, and those nouns or pronouns must be clearly stated.

Exercise 5: Using Commas for Participial Phrases.

Directions: Read each sentence carefully. Underline participial phrase once and the participle
twice. Then, using the comma rules explained above, add commas where appropriate. Circle
your commas.
1. The crowd cheering and stamping drowned out the audience.
2. The person elected secretary will be in charge of taking notes at the meetings.
3. Hearing the new evidence the lawyer shook her head in disbelief.
4. A lone windmill creaking mournfully stood high above the deserted farm.
5. The members of the band exhausted from marching practice went home.
6. The shorts given to me for gym class are way too big.
7. Published in 1941 the novel is still a best seller.
8. The four books chosen by Roland were all spy novels.
9. The burning bacon filled the kitchen with smoke.
10. The wrestler winning the gold medal is Kyle Witunski.

~ PLACING PARTICIPIAL PHRASES ~

Participial phrases must be carefully placed or they can be very confusing to the reader. Be
particularly careful with introductory participial phrases, because those have the tendency to get
most confusing. Make sure they are describing the noun that first follows them in the sentence.
Otherwise, the following types of confusing sentences can happen:
Scratching fleas and hanging by his tail, the photographer watched the monkey.
OR
Covered with butter, I served the pancakes.
Another common mistake is when the writer forgets to put in ANY word within the sentence
that the participial phrase describes. A participial phrase must modify something. In the
following sentences, the participial phrase modifies nothing:
Waving and shouting, the rescue plane came near.
OR
Tired from a long hike, even a meal of crackers sounded tempting.
They need to have a noun (sometimes a complete subject and predicate) added:
Waving and shouting, the shipwrecked crew rejoiced as the rescue plane came near.
OR
Tired from a long hike, the group thought even a meal of crackers sounded tempting.

Exercise 6: Revising Participial Phrases

Directions: Read each of the following sentences carefully. You will need to rewrite each one to
address the following issues:
o Add a noun or pronoun if the phrase modifies nothing
o If needed, move the participial phrase closer to the noun
o Add necessary commas
o Finally, underline the participial phrase once and the participle twice, and then
draw an arrow to the word that it modifies
1. The sheets were stacked in the linen closet freshly washed and folded.

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2. Possessing great agility the athlete outwitted his opponent.

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3. Lizzie watched a comet sitting in the tent in her backyard.

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4. Waiting for U2 tickets to go on sale the night grew colder.

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5. The honor roll students will meet in that room selling yearbooks.

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6. The teakettle whistling shrilly filled the room with steam.

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7. Zach puzzled by the metric measurements in the cookbook put too much sugar in Iaras
birthday cake.

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8. Suspended above the treetops we saw the full moon.

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9. Not knowing any of the answers on the test the score was a zero.

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10. I sleepily watched the countryside riding in the yellow school bus.

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