Participles &

Participial Phrases
 Participial
• A participle is a verb used as an adjective.
• There are two kinds of participles.
– The present participle ends in -ing.
– The past participle has the past form of the verb which
would go with the verb have and would usually end in
–ed OR it is the past participle form of an irregular verb
such as written, frozen, broken, etc.
 Participles in sentences
• The crying baby drew a long breath and
sucked in a spider crouching in the
corner of the crib.
What does the What does the
present present participle
participle crouching
crying modify? modify?

baby spider
 Participial Phrases
• A participial phrase is the participle plus
any complements and modifiers of the
participle and complements.
– A participial phrase may include other types of
phrases.
 Examples of
Participial Phrases
• Swinging from the trees, the monkey
chattered at me.

The participial phrase is : swinging from the trees.

If the participial phrase is an adjective it must modify a noun.

 More Examples
1.The woman wearing the red dress
lives in the neighborhood.
2. The moon robot, activated by a
remote switch,
switch started moving slowly.
3.I saw the monkey swinging from the
trees.
4. Fearing being left behind. Tony
followed the crowd,
 Practice
Try writing a sentence
about this cartoon that
begins with a present
participial phrase.

Try writing a sentence

about this cartoon with
a participial phrase in the
middle or end of the
sentence.