participial phrase

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:

1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Paired Construction - Quotative
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Building Sentences with Participial Phrases Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases Participial Phrases in Momaday's House Made of Dawn Participle Sentence Combining With Participial Phrases

Examples and Observations:

Invented by an Indiana housewife in 1889, the first dishwasher was driven by a steam engine.

A referee, always working before unfriendly crowds, has orders to exude poise under the most trying circumstances.

"The Angelus Building looms on the corner of its block, seven stories, thick with dark windows, caged in a dingy mesh of fire escapes." (Edmund Wilson, Travels in Two Democracies)

"Goldsmith smiled, bunching his fat cheeks like twin rolls of smooth pink toilet paper." (Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts)

"We find participial phrases in three positions. Participial phrases can come before a main clause (initial position), after a noun phrase they are modifying (middle position), or after a main clause (final position). . . . What kind of punctuation do we need to use when participial phrases occur in different positions?
o

When the participial phrase comes before a main clause, it is followed by a comma. When the participial phrase follows a main clause, a comma must come before the participial phrase. When the participial phrase occurs in mid-sentence position, we use two commas. One comma comes before the participial phrase and the other comes after it.

(Andrea DeCapua, Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-native Speakers, Springer, 2008)

"Then he saw the eagles across the distance, two of them, riding low in the depths and rising diagonally toward him." (N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn, 1969)

participle
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Paired Construction - Quotative
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Learn Danish in 9 monthsK!SS will teach you fluent Danish in nine months - in Denmarkwww.kiss.dk Limundi Languagesbersetzer und Dolmetscher We get it across!www.limundi.de Definition: A verbal that functions as an adjective. Present participles end in -ing (carrying, sharing, tapping). Past participles of regular verbs end in -ed (carried, shared, tapped). Adjective, participial. See also:

Absolutes and Participial Phrases in Shaw's "The Eighty-Yard Run" Building Sentences with Participial Phrases Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases Identifying Verbals -ing Form Participial Phrase Participial Phrases in Momaday's "House Made of Dawn" Sentence Combining With Participial Phrases What Is a Present Participle?

Etymology:
From the Latin, "share, partake, participate"

Examples and Observations:

"As modifiers of nouns, present and past participles of verbs function very much like adjectives. Indeed, they are sometimes regarded as adjectives when they modify nouns. A present participle attributes a quality of action to the noun, which is viewed as undertaking the action, as retreating of legs in [109]. A past participle views the noun as having undergone the action expressed by the participle, as prefabricated of buildings in [110]. [109] . . . the cripple's envy at his straight, retreating legs

[110] various prefabricated buildings Thus, the present is an 'active' participle and the past is a 'passive' participle." (Howard Jackson, Grammar and Meaning. Longman, 1990)

"When the participle is a single word--the verb with no complements or modifiers--it usually occupies the adjective slot in preheadword position: Our snoring visitor kept the household awake. The barking dog next door drives us crazy. ". . . While the single-word participle generally fills the preheadword adjective slot, it too can sometimes open the sentence--and with considerable drama: Exasperated, she made the decision to leave immediately. Outraged, the entire committee resigned. You'll notice that both of these openers are past participles, rather than the -ing present participle form; they are, in fact, the passive voice." (Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar. Pearson, 2007)

Examples of Present Participles "God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." (Voltaire) "Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing." (Robert Benchley) "The ducks come on swift, silent wings, gliding through the treetops as if guided by radar, twisting, turning, never touching a twig in that thick growth of trees that surrounded the lake." (Jack Denton Scott, "The Wondrous Wood Duck")

Examples of Past Participles "One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. (Willa Cather, O Pioneers!) The Bible's Jezebel came to an ugly end. Thrown from a balcony, trampled by horses, and devoured by dogs, the middle-aged queen has had few good days since. "I believe in broken, fractured, complicated narratives, but I believe in narratives as a vehicle for truth, not simply as a form of entertainment."

(Stephen Greenblatt)

present participle
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Paired Construction - Quotative
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ESL at Rice UniversityIntensive English & Communication Skills programs in Houston, Texas.esl.rice.edu Neural Network SoftwareDownload NeuroSolutions and apply neural networks to your applicationwww.neurosolutions.com Definition: A verb form--made by adding -ing to the base form--that functions as an adjective. Present participles are the only verb forms that are completely regular. The present participle is used with a form of the auxiliary be to express the progressive aspect. See also:

What Is a Present Participle? Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases Gerund Identifying Verbals -ing Form Participial Phrase

Participle Verbal What Is the Difference Between the Present Progressive and Present Participle?

Examples and Observations:

"I'm looking for something in an attack dog. One who likes the sweet gamey tang of human flesh." (Mr. Burns in The Simpsons, 1992)

"Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life--and that person was you. It is not too late to find that person again." (Robert Brault)

"I drive through the electric gates of a three-acre estate, passing landscaped gardens before I pull up in front of a neocolonial mansion, parking beside a Bentley, two Porsches and a Lamborghini Spyder. Moonsamy, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, is waiting for me at the door." (Joshua Hammer, "Inside Cape Town." Smithsonian, April 2008)

"Their hair in curlers and their heads wrapped in loud scarves, young mothers, fattish in trousers, lounge about in the speed-wash, smoking cigarettes, eating candy, drinking pop, thumbing magazines, and screaming at their children above the whir and rumble of the machines." (William Gass, "In the Heart of the Heart of the Country")

"Although we have traditionally thought of the participle as an adjectival (and that is certainly its more common role), some participles and participial phrases clearly have an adverbial function, providing information of time, place, reason, and manner, as other adverbials do." (Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar. Allyn and Bacon, 1998)

"Walking through Sherwood Forest at sunset, we could feel an air of mystery, as if the ancient trees had a story to tell, if only we could hear." (Winsoar Churchill, "Robin Hood's Merry England." British Heritage, April 1998)

"Standing near the door, we dipped our fingers in the holy water, crossed and blessed ourselves, and proceeded up to the sleeping-room, in the usual order, two by two." (Maria Monk)

" . . . Standing In the shoes of indecision, I hear them Come up behind me and go on ahead of me Wearing boots, on crutches, barefoot, they could never Get together on any door-sill or destination" (W.S. Merwin, "Sire." The Second Four Books of Poems. Copper Canyon Press, 1993)

"The problem of teaching the participle is certainly not simplified by the fact that this term is obviously a misnomer. The student, accustomed to present tenses which indicate present time, and past tenses which indicate past time, cannot comprehend the sophistry of a present participle which indicates now present, now past, now future time. . . . Why insist on calling the participle in -ing present no matter what time it happens to be indicating?" (Karl G. Pfeiffer, "The Present Participle--A Misnomer." The English Journal, 1931)

Also Known As: active, imperfect, or -ing participle

past participle
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Paired Construction - Quotative
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arrangedwww.valuepointacademy.com Postgraduate coursesIn the field of Development Studies Institute of Social Studies Hollandwww.iss.nl Definition: The third principal part of a verb, created by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the base form of a regular verb. (The past participle forms of regular verbs--such as looked, worked, and wished--are identical to the past tense.) The past participle forms of irregular verbs have various endings, including -d (said), -t (slept), and -n (broken). The past participle is used with the auxiliary has, have, or had to express the perfect aspect. In addition, the past participle is used with the auxiliary be to express the passive voice. See also:

Identifying Verbals Introduction to Irregular Verbs Participial Phrase Participle Present Participle Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs Using Correct Forms of the Verb "Be"

Examples and Observations:

"I'm always amazed that people will actually choose to sit in front of the television and just be savaged by stuff that belittles their intelligence." (Alice Walker)

"Frowned upon as unspeakably common by some gardeners, the gnome is often viewed as a rather crude decoration, which has not been helped by the introduction of mooning gnomes and even naked gnomes." ("Notes on a Small Island: The Things That Really Make Britain Great." The Independent, Aug. 28, 2008)

"A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory." (Arthur Golden)

"Though many have tried, no one has ever yet explained away the decisive fact that science, which can do so much, cannot decide what it ought to do." (Joseph Wood Krutch)

"Underwear should be worn on the inside." (Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)

"The past participle can indicate past, present, and future meanings. 1. Thus deceived, he will be outraged. [both actions in the future] 2. Baffled by your attitude, I cannot help you. [both actions in the present] 3. Baffled by your attitude, I could not help you. [both actions in the past] The past participle has both perfect and progressive forms: 4. Having been discovered, the thief confessed. 5. Being watched, he could only pretend to be nonchalant. (Vincent F. Hopper, et al., Essentials of English, 5th ed. 2000)

"verbs: past tenses -t/-ed Both forms of ending are acceptable in British English, but the -t form is dominant--burnt, learnt, spelt--whereas American English uses -ed: burned, learned, spelled. Contrarily, British English uses -ed for the past tense and the past participle of certain verbs--quitted, sweated--while American English uses the infinitive spelling--quit, sweat. Some verbs have a different form of past tense and past participle, eg, the past tense of dive is dived in British English but dove in American English." (The Economist Style Guide, 10th ed. Profile Books, 2010)

Also Known As: passive participle, -ed participle, -ed clause

Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. English Grammar

2. > Sentence Structures

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Writing Sentence Tense Creative Writing Examples Sentence Structure Correct Grammar Sentences

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Spoken EnglishEnglish Courses on various levels Accomodation can be arrangedwww.valuepointacademy.com Raider Publishing Int.Author Founded Publisher Looking for New Writerswww.RaiderPublishing.com As seen in Identifying Verbals, a participle is a verb form used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns. Participles can add vigor to our writing as they add information to our sentences. Here we'll practice creating and arranging participial phrases.

Participles as Modifiers
Consider the different verb forms in this sentence: My father's hair, streaked with gray and receding on both sides, is combed straight back to his collar. The main verb (or predicate) of the sentence is the phrase is combed. The other two verbs forms are participles:

streaked is a past participle, formed by adding -ed to the present form of the verb ("streak"); receding is a present participle, formed by adding -ing to the verb ("recede").

Both participles work as adjectives and follow the noun they modify: "hair." Like regular adjectives, participles may also appear in front of the nouns they modify: The whispering breeze scattered seeds across the abandoned fields. Here, both the present participle whispering and the past participle abandoned stand in front of the nouns they describe ("breeze" and "fields").

Present and Past Participles

When thinking about participles, don't be misled by the words present and past. These terms refer to different forms of verbs, not to different times or tenses. All present participles end in -ing: the laughing lady the falling temperature the stinging remark The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed: the tired dancer the injured player the cracked vase However, irregular verbs have various past participle endings (such as thrown, ridden, built, and gone). If you're unsure of a past participle ending, visit The Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs.

Participial Phrases
Both present and past participles can be used in phrases--called participial phrases--that modify nouns and pronouns. A participial phrase is made up of a participle and its modifiers. A participle may be followed by an object, an adverb, a prepositional phrase, an adverb clause, or any combination of these. Here, for example, the participial phrase consists of a present participle (holding), an object (the torch), and an adverb (steadily): Holding the torch steadily, Merdine approached the monster. In the next sentence, the participial phrase includes a present participle (making), an object (a great ring), and a prepositional phrase (of white light): Merdine waved the torch over her head, making a great ring of white light. Let's practice by combining these three sentences, turning the first and third into participial phrases:

I guided the pinball through the upper chutes, down a runover lane, off the slingshot bumpers to the flippers. I cradled it there. I bounced it back and forth until I had a perfect shot through the spinner.

To emphasize the quick, successive actions described in these three sentences, we can combine them by turning the verbs guided and bounced into present participles: Guiding the ball through the upper chutes, down a runover lane, off the slingshot bumpers to the flippers, I cradled it there, bouncing it back and forth until I had a perfect shot through the

spinner. (J. Anthony Lucas, "The Inner Game of Pinball") Here, the first phrase includes a present participle (Guiding) and its object (the pinball), followed by a series of prepositional phrases. The second participial phrase again contains a present participle (bouncing) and its object (it), followed by a pair of adverbs (back and forth) and an adverb clause. Both participial phrases modify "I," the subject of the sentence. Note that participial phrases can't stand alone as complete sentences: they must modify a noun or pronoun in the sentence.

Arranging Participial Phrases

A participial phrase is flexible, a structure that can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Participial phrases may be arranged to show a sequence of actions, as in the "pinball" sentence just seen. They may also be set up to show that two or more actions are occurring at the same time: The eagles swooped and hovered, leaning on the air, and swung close together, feinting and screaming with delight. (N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn) In this sentence, the eagles were "leaning on the air" as they "hovered"; they were "feinting and screaming with delight" as they swung close together. Though you can shift a participial phrase to different positions, don't risk awkwardness or confusion by placing it too far from the word it modifies. For example, a participial phrase that indicates a cause usually precedes the main clause, sometimes follows the subject, but only rarely appears at the end of the sentence. In each sentence below, the participial phrase clearly modifies the subject ("my younger sister") and suggests a cause:

Discouraged by the long hours and low pay, my sister finally quit her job. My sister, discouraged by the long hours and low pay, finally quit her job. My sister finally quit her job, discouraged by the long hours and low pay.

But consider what happens when the participial phrase moves to the end of the sentence: Here the logical order of cause-effect is reversed, and as a result the sentence may be less effective than the first two versions.

Dangling Phrases
A participial phrase should refer clearly to a noun or pronoun in the sentence. We have to be careful when combining sentences such as these: I curled my toes and squinted. The doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle. Notice what happens if we drop "I" and change the first sentence to a participial phrase: Curling my toes and squinting, the doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle. Here the participial phrases refer to "the doctor" when they should refer to "I"--a pronoun that's not in the sentence. This kind of problem--called a dangling modifier--should be avoided.

We can correct this dangling modifier either by adding "I" to the sentence or by replacing the participial phrase with an adverb clause:

Curling my toes and squinting, I waited for the doctor to puncture my arm with a needle. As I curled my toes and squinted, the doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle.

Building Sentences with Participial Phrases

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Composing Sentences 2. > Combining Sentences 3. > Building Sentences
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Exercise Team Building Exercises Correct Grammar Sentences Grammar Check English Grammar

This exercise will give you a chance to apply the principles introduced in Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases. Combine the sentences in each set below into a single clear sentence with at least one participial phrase. Here's an example:

I stood on the roof of my apartment building at dawn.

I watched the sun rise through crimson clouds. Sample combination: Standing on the roof of my apartment building at dawn, I watched the sun rise through crimson clouds.

If you run into problems while working on this exercise, review the following pages:

Introduction to Sentence Combining Identifying Verbals Exercise in Adding and Arranging Participial Phrases Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases

When you are done, compare your sentences with the sample combinations on page two.

Exercise: Building Sentences with Participial Phrases

1. The dishwasher was invented in 1889. The dishwasher was invented by an Indiana housewife. The first dishwasher was driven by a steam engine.

2. I took small sips from a can of Coke. I was sitting on the ground in a shady corner. I was sitting with my back against the wall.

3. I was sitting on the window ledge. The ledge overlooked the narrow street. I watched the children. The children were frolicking in the first snow of the season.

4. The first edition of Infant Care was published by the U.S. Government. The first edition of Infant Care was published in 1914. The first edition of Infant Care recommended the use of peat moss for disposable diapers.

5. The house sat stately upon a hill. The house was gray. The house was weather-worn. The house was surrounded by barren tobacco fields.

6. I washed the windows in a fever of fear. I whipped the squeegee swiftly up and down the glass. I feared that some member of the gang might see me.

7. Goldsmith smiled. He bunched his cheeks like twin rolls of toilet paper. His cheeks were fat. The toilet paper was smooth. The toilet paper was pink.

8. The roaches scurried in and out of the breadbox. The roaches sang chanteys. The roaches sang as they worked. The roaches paused only to thumb their noses. They thumbed their noses jeeringly. They thumbed their noses in my direction.

9. The medieval peasant was distracted by war. The medieval peasant was weakened by malnutrition. The medieval peasant was exhausted by his struggle to earn a living. The medieval peasant was an easy prey for the dreadful Black Death.

10. He eats slowly. He eats steadily. He sucks the sardine oil from his fingers. The sardine oil is rich. He sucks the oil with slow and complete relish. When you are done, compare your sentences with the sample combinations on page two.

Building Sentences with Participial Phrases: Sample Combinations

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Composing Sentences 2. > Combining Sentences

3. > Building Sentences

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Exercise Correct Grammar Sentences Building Houses English Grammar Exercise Grammar

(Continued from Page 1) Here are sample combinations for the 10 sets of sentence-building exercises on page one. Keep in mind that in most cases more than one effective combination is possible. 1. Invented by an Indiana housewife in 1889, the first dishwasher was driven by a steam engine. 2. Sitting on the ground in a shady corner with my back against the wall, I took small sips from a can of Coke. 3. Sitting on the widow ledge overlooking the narrow street, I watched the children frolicking in the first snow of the season. 4. Published by the U.S. Government in 1914, the first edition of Infant Care recommended the use of peat moss for disposable diapers. 5. The gray, weather-worn house sat stately upon a hill surrounded by barren tobacco fields. 6. Fearing that some member of the gang might see me, I washed the windows in a fever of fear, whipping the squeegee swiftly up and down the glass.

7. "Goldsmith smiled, bunching his fat cheeks like twin rolls of smooth pink toilet paper." (Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts) 8. "The roaches scurried in and out of the breadbox, singing chanteys as they worked and pausing only to thumb their noses jeeringly in my direction." (S. J. Perelman, The Rising Gorge) 9. The medieval peasant--distracted by war, weakened by malnutrition, exhausted by his struggle to earn a living--was an easy prey for the dreaded Black Death. 10. He eats slowly, steadily, sucking the rich sardine oil from his fingers with slow and complete relish.

Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. English Grammar 2. > Sentence Structures
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Writing Sentence Tense Creative Writing Examples Sentence Structure Correct Grammar Sentences

Sponsored Links

Spoken EnglishEnglish Courses on various levels Accomodation can be arrangedwww.valuepointacademy.com Raider Publishing Int.Author Founded Publisher Looking for New Writerswww.RaiderPublishing.com As seen in Identifying Verbals, a participle is a verb form used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns. Participles can add vigor to our writing as they add information to our sentences. Here we'll practice creating and arranging participial phrases.

Participles as Modifiers
Consider the different verb forms in this sentence: My father's hair, streaked with gray and receding on both sides, is combed straight back to his collar. The main verb (or predicate) of the sentence is the phrase is combed. The other two verbs forms are participles:

streaked is a past participle, formed by adding -ed to the present form of the verb ("streak"); receding is a present participle, formed by adding -ing to the verb ("recede").

Both participles work as adjectives and follow the noun they modify: "hair." Like regular adjectives, participles may also appear in front of the nouns they modify: The whispering breeze scattered seeds across the abandoned fields. Here, both the present participle whispering and the past participle abandoned stand in front of the nouns they describe ("breeze" and "fields").

Present and Past Participles

When thinking about participles, don't be misled by the words present and past. These terms refer to different forms of verbs, not to different times or tenses. All present participles end in -ing: the laughing lady the falling temperature the stinging remark The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed: the tired dancer the injured player the cracked vase However, irregular verbs have various past participle endings (such as thrown, ridden, built, and gone). If you're unsure of a past participle ending, visit The Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs.

Participial Phrases
Both present and past participles can be used in phrases--called participial phrases--that modify nouns and pronouns. A participial phrase is made up of a participle and its modifiers. A participle may be followed by an object, an adverb, a prepositional phrase, an adverb clause, or any combination of these. Here, for example, the participial phrase consists of a present participle (holding), an object (the torch), and an adverb (steadily): Holding the torch steadily, Merdine approached the monster. In the next sentence, the participial phrase includes a present participle (making), an object (a great ring), and a prepositional phrase (of white light): Merdine waved the torch over her head, making a great ring of white light. Let's practice by combining these three sentences, turning the first and third into participial phrases:

I guided the pinball through the upper chutes, down a runover lane, off the slingshot bumpers to the flippers. I cradled it there. I bounced it back and forth until I had a perfect shot through the spinner.

To emphasize the quick, successive actions described in these three sentences, we can combine them by turning the verbs guided and bounced into present participles: Guiding the ball through the upper chutes, down a runover lane, off the slingshot bumpers to the flippers, I cradled it there, bouncing it back and forth until I had a perfect shot through the spinner. (J. Anthony Lucas, "The Inner Game of Pinball") Here, the first phrase includes a present participle (Guiding) and its object (the pinball), followed by a series of prepositional phrases. The second participial phrase again contains a present participle (bouncing) and its object (it), followed by a pair of adverbs (back and forth) and an adverb clause. Both participial phrases modify "I," the subject of the sentence. Note that participial phrases can't stand alone as complete sentences: they must modify a noun or pronoun in the sentence.

Arranging Participial Phrases

A participial phrase is flexible, a structure that can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Participial phrases may be arranged to show a sequence of actions, as in the "pinball" sentence just seen. They may also be set up to show that two or more actions are occurring at the same time: The eagles swooped and hovered, leaning on the air, and swung close together, feinting and screaming with delight. (N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn) In this sentence, the eagles were "leaning on the air" as they "hovered"; they were "feinting and screaming with delight" as they swung close together. Though you can shift a participial phrase to different positions, don't risk awkwardness or confusion by placing it too far from the word it modifies. For example, a participial phrase that

indicates a cause usually precedes the main clause, sometimes follows the subject, but only rarely appears at the end of the sentence. In each sentence below, the participial phrase clearly modifies the subject ("my younger sister") and suggests a cause:

Discouraged by the long hours and low pay, my sister finally quit her job. My sister, discouraged by the long hours and low pay, finally quit her job. My sister finally quit her job, discouraged by the long hours and low pay.

But consider what happens when the participial phrase moves to the end of the sentence: Here the logical order of cause-effect is reversed, and as a result the sentence may be less effective than the first two versions.

Dangling Phrases
A participial phrase should refer clearly to a noun or pronoun in the sentence. We have to be careful when combining sentences such as these: I curled my toes and squinted. The doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle. Notice what happens if we drop "I" and change the first sentence to a participial phrase: Curling my toes and squinting, the doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle. Here the participial phrases refer to "the doctor" when they should refer to "I"--a pronoun that's not in the sentence. This kind of problem--called a dangling modifier--should be avoided. We can correct this dangling modifier either by adding "I" to the sentence or by replacing the participial phrase with an adverb clause:

Curling my toes and squinting, I waited for the doctor to puncture my arm with a needle. As I curled my toes and squinted, the doctor prepared to puncture my arm with a needle.

NEXT:

Building Sentences with Participial Phrases

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Composing Sentences 2. > Combining Sentences 3. > Building Sentences
Sponsored Links

Learn English in USAPersonalized English lessons (212) 2211302www.integratedlearningcenter.com Study Abroad Free TestStudi ke Luar Negeri Medical Study Toefl ielts Gmat Gre Sat Usmlewww.edupacindonesia.com Learn Danish in 9 monthsK!SS will teach you fluent Danish in nine months - in Denmarkwww.kiss.dk Grammar & Composition Ads

Exercise English Grammar Team Building Exercises Correct Grammar Sentences Grammar Check

This exercise will give you a chance to apply the principles introduced in Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases. Combine the sentences in each set below into a single clear sentence with at least one participial phrase. Here's an example:

I stood on the roof of my apartment building at dawn. I watched the sun rise through crimson clouds. Sample combination: Standing on the roof of my apartment building at dawn, I watched the sun rise through crimson clouds.

If you run into problems while working on this exercise, review the following pages:

Introduction to Sentence Combining Identifying Verbals Exercise in Adding and Arranging Participial Phrases Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases

When you are done, compare your sentences with the sample combinations on page two.

Introduction to Sentence Combining

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. English Grammar

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English Grammar Grammar Exercise Grammar Check Correct Grammar Sentences Grammar Videos

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An Example of Sentence Combining

Let's consider an example. Start by looking at this list of eight short (and repetitive) sentences:

She was our Latin teacher. We were in high school.

She was tiny. She was a birdlike woman. She was swarthy. She had dark eyes. Her eyes were sparkling. Her hair was graying.

Now try combining those sentences into three, two, or even just one clear and coherent sentence: in the process of combining, omit repetitive words and phrases (such as "She was") but keep all of the original details. Have you succeeded in combining the sentences? If so, compare your work with these sample combinations:

Our Latin teacher in high school was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike. She had dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

When we were in high school, our Latin teacher was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

Our high school Latin teacher was a swarthy, birdlike woman. She was tiny, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

Our Latin teacher in high school was a birdlike woman, tiny and swarthy, with graying hair and dark, sparkling eyes.

Remember, there's no single correct combination. In fact, there are usually several ways to combine sentences in these exercises. After a little practice, however, you'll discover that some combinations are clearer and more effective than others. If you're curious, here is the sentence that served as the original model for this little combining exercise: Our high school Latin teacher was a tiny, birdlike woman, swarthy, with sparkling dark eyes, graying hair. (Charles W. Morton, It Has Its Charm) An unusual combination, you might say. Is it the best version possible? As we'll see in later exercises, that question can't be answered until we look at the combination in the context of the sentences that precede and follow it. Nevertheless, certain guidelines are worth keeping in mind as we evaluate our work in these exercises.

Evaluating Sentence Combinations

After combining a set of sentences in a variety of ways, you should take time to evaluate your work and decide which combinations you like and which ones you don't. You may do this evaluation on your own or in a group in which you will have a chance to compare your new sentences with those of others. In either case, read your sentences out loud as you evaluate them: how they sound to you can be just as revealing as how they look. Here are six basic qualities to consider when you evaluate your new sentences:
1. Meaning. As far as you can determine, have you conveyed the idea intended by the

original author?
2. Clarity. Is the sentence clear? Can it be understood on the first reading? 3. Coherence. Do the various parts of the sentence fit together logically and smoothly? 4. Emphasis. Are key words and phrases put in emphatic positions (usually at the very end

or at the very beginning of the sentence)?

5. Conciseness. Does the sentence clearly express an idea without wasting words? 6. Rhythm. Does the sentence flow, or is it marked by awkward interruptions? Do the

interruptions help to emphasize key points (an effective technique), or do they merely distract (an ineffective technique)? These six qualities are so closely related that one can't be easily separated from another. The significance of the various qualities--and their interrelationship--should become clearer to you as you practice the combining exercises on this site.

Exercises in Sentence Building and Combining at About.com Grammar & Composition

The sentence building and combining exercises here at Grammar & Composition encourage students to experiment with different methods of putting words together:

Sentence Building Exercises focus on particular grammatical structures in isolated sentences. Sentence Combining & Paragraph Building Exercises (sometimes called wholediscourse exercises) provide similar practice within the context of paragraphs and short essays.

Because there are countless ways to construct sentences, the goal is not to find the one "correct" combination but to consider different arrangements before deciding which one is most effective. To begin developing your skills in sentence building and combining, follow these links: Sentence Building Exercises:

What Is Sentence Combining and How Does It Work?

By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:

1. Exercises and Quizzes 2. > Grammar Exercises
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Spoken EnglishEnglish Courses on various levels Accomodation can be arrangedwww.valuepointacademy.com Chemical structure dataStructure based predictions molecules, 20+ predictions!chemicalize.org Question: What Is Sentence Combining and How Does It Work? Find out about sentence combining--a friendly (and generally more effective) alternative to traditional grammar instruction. Then begin developing your sentence-combining skills here at About.com Grammar & Composition. Answer: An alternative to traditional forms of grammar instruction, sentence combining gives students practice in manipulating a variety of basic sentence structures. Despite appearances, the goal of sentence combining is not to produce longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help students become more versatile writers.

How Sentence Combining Works

Here's a simple example of how sentence combining works. Consider these three short sentences:

The dancer was not tall. The dancer was not slender. The dancer was extremely elegant.

By cutting out the needless repetition and adding a few conjunctions, we can combine these three short sentences into a single, more coherent sentence. We might write this, for instance: "The dancer was not tall or slender, but she was extremely elegant." Or this: "The dancer was neither

tall nor slender but extremely elegant." Or even this: "Neither tall nor slender, the dancer was extremely elegant nonetheless." Which version is grammatically correct? All three of them. Then which version is most effective? Now that's the right question. And the answer (as discussed in Introduction to Sentence Combining) depends on several factors, beginning with the context in which the sentence appears.

The Rise, Fall, and Return of Sentence Combining

As a method of teaching writing, sentence combining grew out of studies in transformationalgenerative grammar and was popularized in the 1970s by researchers and teachers such as Frank O'Hare (Sentence-Combining: Improving Student Writing Without Formal Grammar Instruction, 1971) and William Strong (Sentence Combining: A Composing Book, 1973). Around the same time, interest in sentence combining was heightened by other emerging sentence-level pedagogies, especially the "generative rhetoric of the sentence" advocated by Francis and Bonniejean Christensen (A New Rhetoric, 1976). In recent years, after a period of neglect (a period when researchers, as Robert J. Connors has noted, "did not like or trust exercises" of any kind), sentence combining has made a comeback in many composition classrooms. Whereas in the 1980s, as Connors says, "it was no longer enough to report that sentence-combining 'worked' if no one could specify why it worked," research has now caught up with practice: [T]he preponderance of writing instruction research shows that systematic practice in combining and expanding sentences may increase students' repertoire of syntactic structures and may also improve the quality of their sentences, when stylistic effects are discussed as well. Thus, sentence combining and expansion are viewed as a primary (and accepted) writing instructional approach, one that has emerged from research findings holding that a sentence combining approach is far superior to traditional grammar instruction. (Carolyn Carter, The Absolute Minimum Any Educator Should Know & Teach Students About the Sentence, iUniverse, 2003) For more information about the rise, fall, and return of sentence combining (and other syntactic exercises), see "The Erasure of the Sentence" by Robert J. Connors, originally published in the September 2000 issue of College Composition and Communication and reprinted in the third edition of Teaching Composition: Background Readings, edited by T.R. Johnson (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008). Definition:
1. The systematic study and description of a language. 2. A set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures (morphology) of

a language. Adjective: grammatical.

sentence
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Reading - Syntax

Four functional types of sentences: (1) declarative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, and (4) exclamatory
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Spoken EnglishEnglish Courses on various levels Accomodation can be arrangedwww.valuepointacademy.com A Different Type of BlogThoughts from a Christian view. Stop by and jumpstart your day! www.cadebe.info Definition: The largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Adjective: sentential. The sentence is traditionally (and inadequately) defined as a word or group of words that expresses a complete idea and that includes a subject and a verb. The four basic sentence structures are the simple sentence, the compound sentence, the complex sentence, and the compound-complex sentence.

compound sentence
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Cacography - Cut Spelling

A compound sentence from the movie Braveheart (1995)

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Basic Sentence Structures Coordinating Words, Phrases, and Clauses Parataxis Simple and Compound Sentences in Gilbert Highet's "Diogenes"

Examples:

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." (John F. Kennedy)

"Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one." (attributed to both Lyndon B. Johnson and Sam Rayburn)

"Tell the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time." (Gerald R. Ford)

"I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming." (attributed to Jimmy Carter, among others)

complex sentence
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1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Cacography - Cut Spelling

A complex sentence from Henry David Thoreau

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A sentence that contains an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The complex sentence is one of the four basic sentence structures. The other structures are the simple sentence, the compound sentence, and the compound-complex sentence. See also:

Basic Sentence Structures Hypotaxis Main Clause Subordinate Clause

Examples and Observations:

"He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow." (George Eliot, Adam Bede)

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away." (Henry David Thoreau)

"[D]ependent clauses cannot be sentences on their own. They depend on an independent clause to support them. The independent clause in a complex sentence carries the main meaning, but either clause may come first. When the dependent clause comes first, it is always followed by a comma." (A. Robert Young and Ann O. Strauch, Nitty Gritty Grammar: Sentence Essentials for Writers. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006)

"Most of the sentences we use in writing or in continuous speech are complex. Earlier in this chapter we tried to compose a piece of narrative in simple sentences. It would be difficult to do this at any great length, and in some types of discourse, e.g. the conduct of argument, it would be virtually impossible. There is a recurrent need to expound facts or concepts in greater elaboration than the structure of the simple sentence permits." (Walter Nash, English Usage: A Guide to First Principles. Routledge, 1986)

"Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it by being a slave himself." (Abraham Lincoln)

compound-complex sentence
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1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Cacography - Cut Spelling

A compound-complex sentence from Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Basic Sentence Structures Hypotaxis

Examples:

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them . . . well, I have others." (Groucho Marx)

"In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are

equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards." (Bertrand Russell)

"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law." (James Baldwin)

"The Druids used mistletoe in ceremonies of human sacrifice, but most of all the evergreen became a symbol of fertility because it flourished in winter when other plants withered." (Sian Ellis, "England's Ancient 'Special Twig,'" British Heritage, January 2001)

"For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged." (Alice Walker)

"We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better system, except possibly flipping a coin." (Dave Barry)

"I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot." (Steve Martin)

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." (Theodor Geisel)

Identifying Verbals
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. English Grammar

2. > Verb Forms

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Correct Grammar Sentences Adjective Sentences Identifying Bacteria Past Participle Gerund Rule

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participles gerunds infinitives

As we'll see, each of these verbals is often part of a phrase, which includes related modifiers, objects, or complements.

Participles
A participle is a verb form used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns. The following sentence contains both a present and a past participle: The children, crying and exhausted, were guided out of the collapsed mine.

Crying is a present participle, formed by adding -ing to the present form of the verb (cry). Exhausted is a past participle, formed by adding -ed to the present form of the verb (exhaust). Both participles modify the subject, children. All present participles end in -ing. The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed. However, irregular verbs have various past participle endings (for instance, thrown. ridden, built, and gone). A participial phrase is made up of a participle and its modifiers. A participle may be followed by an object, an adverb, a prepositional phrase, an adverb clause, or any combination of these. In this sentence, for example, the participial phrase consists of a present participle (holding), an object (the torch), and an adverb (steadily): Holding the torch steadily, Merdine approached the monster. In the next sentence, the participial phrase consists of a present participle (making), an object (a great ring), and a prepositional phrase (of white light): Merdine waved the torch over her head, making a great ring of white light. For more information about using participles and participial phrases, visit Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases.

Gerunds
A gerund is a verb form ending in -ing that functions in a sentence as a noun. Although both the present participle and the gerund are formed by adding -ing to a verb, note that the participle does the job of an adjective while the gerund does the job of a noun. Compare the verbals in these two sentences: The children, crying and exhausted, were guided out of the collapsed mine. Crying will not get you anywhere. Whereas the participle crying modifies the subject in the first sentence, the gerund Crying is the subject of the second sentence.

Infinitives
An infinitive is a verb form--often preceded by the particle to--that can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Compare the verbals in these two sentences: I don't like crying in public unless I'm getting paid for it. I don't like to cry in public unless I'm getting paid for it. In the first sentence, the gerund crying serves as the direct object. In the second sentence, the infinitive to cry performs the same function.

Exercise: Identifying Verbals

For each of the following sentences, decide if the word or phrase in bold is a participle, a gerund, or an infinitive. When you are done, compare your responses with the answers at the end of the exercise. 1. The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken. (Homer)

2. The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken. (Homer) 3. There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream--whatever that dream might be. (Pearl Buck) 4. There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream--whatever that dream might be. (Pearl Buck) 5. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. (George Burns) 6. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. (George Burns) 7. I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. (Woody Allen) 8. I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. (Woody Allen) 9. It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. (Gore Vidal) 10. Succeeding is not enough. Others must fail. Answers: 1. gerunds; 2. infinitive; 3. gerund; 4. (past) participle; 5. (present) participles; 6. gerund; 7. infinitives; 8. gerund; 9. infinitive; 10. gerund.

phrase
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Paired Construction - Quotative

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Absolute Phrase Adjective Phrase Adverb Phrase Catchphrase Noun Phrase Participial Phrase Phrasal Verb Prepositional Phrase Signal Phrase Verb Phrase

Etymology:
From the Greek, "explain, tell"

Examples and Observations:

Absolute Phrase "Still he came on, shoulders hunched, face twisted, wringing his hands, looking more like an old woman at a wake than an infantry combat soldier." (James Jones, The Thin Red Line)

Adjective Phrase "It is always the best policy to speak the truth--unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar." (Jerome K. Jerome)

Adverb Phrase "Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose." (J. S. Habgood)

Gerund Phrase "Failing the exam was a major disappointment to him, to me and to Eva." (Judith Hubback, From Dawn to Dusk)

Noun Phrase "Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!" (Paul Simon)

Participial Phrase "He moved ahead more quickly now, dragging his heels a little in the fine dust." (John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath)

Prepositional Phrase "I could dance with you until the cows come home. On second thought I'd rather dance with the cows until you come home." (Groucho Marx)

Verb Phrase "When this is all over, your father may be going away for a little while." (Ellen Griswold in Vacation, 1983)

"Noun phrases and prepositional phrases can have particularly complex structure in written texts, with several layers of phrase embedding. In fact, the complexity of phrases is a very striking measure for comparing the complexity of syntax in different registers of English. The simplest structures occur in conversation and the complexity increases

through fiction and newspaper writing, with academic writing showing the greatest complexity of phrase structure." (D. Biber et al., Longman Student Grammar, 2005)

clause
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Various Flame-retardantsConsistent high quality, Prompt delivery, Low cost.www.3ninc.com Antibody Conjugationdiscrete, polyethylene glycols for ADC chemistrywww.QuantaBioDesign.com Definition: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. A clause may be either a sentence (an independent clause) or a sentence-like construction within another sentence (a dependent clause). Types of Clauses:

Adjective Clause Adverbial Clause Comment Clause Comparative Clause Complement Clause Conditional Clause

Independent Clause Main Clause Matrix Clause Noun Clause Relative Clause Subordinate Clause Verbless Clause

adverb clause
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Abbreviation - Buzzword
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Learn English in USAPersonalized English lessons (212) 2211302www.integratedlearningcenter.com 1st in Average AdjustingAll marine claims Worldwide servicewww.jssusa.com Kariega Game ReserveCome See the beauty of South Africa Kariega Game Reserve. Enquire Now!Kariega.co.za/_Click_To_Visit_Site Definition: A dependent clause used as an adverb within a sentence to indicate time, place, condition, contrast, concession, reason, purpose, or result. An adverb clause (also known as an adverbial clause) begins with a subordinating conjunction (such as if, when, because, although) and includes a subject and a predicate.

independent clause
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary

2. > Icon - Lower Case

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A clause is a group of words that [contains] a subject and a verb. There are two major types: independent clauses and dependent clauses. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, beginning with a capital letter and ending with terminal punctuation such as a period. A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence; instead it must be attached to an independent clause." (G. Lutz and D. Stevenson, The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference, 2005)

main clause
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1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Main Clause - Oxymoron
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Learn English in TorontoGeneral English Language Courses in Toronto, Canada, Start Next Monday!www.SchoolofEnglish.org.uk/Toronto Definition: A group of words made up of a subject and a predicate. A main clause (unlike a dependent or subordinate clause) can stand alone as a sentence. A main clause is also known as an independent clause.

relative clause
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Reading - Syntax

"I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy." (W.C. Fields)
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A relative clause immediately follows the noun or noun phrase it modifies.

Relative Pronouns and Adjective Clauses

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1. English Grammar 2. > Sentence Structures
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English Grammar Grammar Exercise Grammar Check Grammar Videos Grammar Rules

As we've seen (in Subordination with Adjective Clauses), an adjective clause is a group of words that works like an adjective to modify a noun. Here we'll focus on the five relative pronouns that are used in adjective clauses. An adjective clause usually begins with a relative pronoun: a word that relates the information in the adjective clause to a word or a phrase in the main clause. The most common adjective clauses begin with one of these relative pronouns: who, which, and that. All three pronouns refer to a noun, but who refers only to people and which refers only to things. That may refer to either people or things. Two other relative pronouns used to introduce adjective clauses are whose (the possessive form of who) and whom (the object form of who). Whose begins an adjective clause that describes something that belongs to or is a part of someone or something mentioned in the main clause: The ostrich, whose wings are useless for flight, can run faster than the swiftest horse.

Whom stands for the noun that receives the action of the verb in the adjective clause: Anne Sullivan was the teacher whom Helen Keller met in 1887. Notice that in this sentence Helen Keller is the subject of the adjective clause, and whom is the object. Put another way, who is equivalent to the subject pronouns he, she, or they in a main clause; whom is equivalent to the object pronouns him, her, or them in a main clause.

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Adjective Clauses

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1. English Grammar 2. > Sentence Structures
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In Subordination with Adjective Clauses, we learned how an adjective clause functions like an adjective to modify a noun. In Relative Pronouns and Adjective Clauses, we focused on the role played by the relative pronoun. Here we'll learn to distinguish between the two main types of adjective clauses: restrictive and nonrestrictive.

Nonrestrictive Adjective Clauses

An adjective clause set off from the main clause by commas is said to be nonrestrictive. Here's an example:

Old Professor Legree, who dresses like a teenager, is going through his second childhood. This who clause is nonrestrictive because the information in the clause doesn't restrict or limit the noun it modifies (Old Professor Legree). The commas signify that the adjective clause provides added, not essential, information. This practice is consistent with Comma Guideline #4: "Use a pair of commas to set off interruptions."

Restrictive Adjective Clauses

On the other hand, an adjective clause that is restrictive should not be set off by commas. An older person who dresses like a teenager is often an object of ridicule or pity. Here, the adjective clause restricts or limits the meaning of the noun it modifies (An older person). A restrictive adjective clause is not set off by commas. So let's keep in mind two basic rules:

Nonrestrictive: An adjective clause that can be omitted from a sentence without affecting the basic meaning of the sentence should be set off by commas. Restrictive: An adjective clause that cannot be omitted from a sentence without affecting the basic meaning of the sentence should not be set off by commas.

subordinate clause
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Reading - Syntax
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verbless clause
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide

Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Taboo - Zimbabwean English

The italicized word group in this sentence is a verbless clause.

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verbless sentence
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide Filed In:
1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Taboo - Zimbabwean English

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Learn English in USAPersonalized English lessons (212) 2211302www.integratedlearningcenter.com 7 Step TOEFL System162 + Lessons and Practice Tests Subscribe today for $29.99www.bettertoeflscores.com Definition: A construction that lacks a verb but functions as a sentence No comment. "Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels." (The Doctor in "Blink," Doctor Who, 2007) "Waiter! raw beef-steak for the gentleman's eye--nothing like raw beefsteak for a bruise, sir; cold lamp-post very good, but lamp-post inconvenient." (Alfred Jingle in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, 1837) "It better as a verbless sentence seems to have won a place in correct, if informal, speech. 'I sure hope the market improves.' 'It better.' In fact, it had better might seem excessively formal in such an exchange." (E. D. Johnson, The Handbook of Good English. Simon & Schuster, 1991)

dependent clause
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1. Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary 2. > Daffynition - Dysphemism
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Antibody Conjugationdiscrete, polyethylene glycols for ADC chemistrywww.QuantaBioDesign.com Definition: A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. Also known as a subordinate clause. Dependent clauses include adverb clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses.