PARTICIPLE and

PARTICIPLE/
PARTICIPIAL
PHRASE
Participles
-verb form
-acts as an adjective
-may end in –ing, -ed (regular), or
some other possible endings
(irregular)
The babies reacted strongly to the applauding
crowd.

Applauding
The root word is “applaud” which is a verb, when
added –ing it becomes adjective because it
describes the noun “crowd”. Therefore,
applauding is a participle describing the noun
“crowd”.
Verb form + acting as adjective = participle

(when followed by a noun)

applaud + applaud(ing) = participle

crowd
The crying baby stole the show

Crying
The root word is “cry” which is a verb, when
added –ing it becomes adjective because it
describes the noun “baby”. Therefore, crying is a
participle describing the noun “baby”.
The abandoned house in town is like
something from a horror movie

Abandoned
The root word is “abandon” which is a verb, when
added –ed it becomes adjective because it
describes the noun “house”. Therefore,
abandoned is a participle describing the noun
“house”.
Participle/ Participial Phrase
- contains a participle
- a participle phrase includes any
object or modifiers of the participle
- entire phrase acts as a single
adjectives
Walking along the beach, Cesar
collected jellyfish.
Walking is a verb form and we include anything goes
along with it which is “along the beach”. Walking
along the beach is describing Cesar which is a noun.
So it’s a phrase (along with the beach) that starts with a
verb form (walking) and describes a noun (Cesar) that
makes “Walking along the beach” a participle phrase.
If you’re trying to decide
between two possible words or
phrases, the participle or
participle phrase is typically the
one that can be taken out of the
sentence.
 noun
Walking along the beach, Cesar collected jellyfish.

walking and collected are both verb forms.

When we remove “collected” from the sentence, the

sentence now says, “Walking along the beach, Cesar
jellyfish.” That clearly doesn’t make sense. So the verb
“collected” is not a participle.
 noun

Walking along the beach, Cesar collected jellyfish.

When we remove “walking” from the sentence, the

sentence now says, “Along the beach, Cesar collected
jellyfish.” That makes sense, so it makes a perfect
sentence. That means “walking” is a participle, because
when you remove it, the sentence still makes sense.
 noun
Frightened by the loud fireworks, the dog hid
behind me.

frightened and hid are both verb forms.

When we remove “hid” from the sentence, the sentence

now says, “Frightened by the loud fireworks, the
dog behind me.” That clearly doesn’t make sense. So
the verb “hid” is not a participle.
Frightened by the loud fireworks, thenoun
dog hid
behind me.

When we remove “frightened” from the sentence, the

sentence now says, “By the loud fireworks, the dog
hid behind me.” That makes sense, so it makes a
perfect sentence. That means “frightened” is a
participle, because when you remove it, the sentence
still makes sense.