Participle
clauses in
focus
GRAMMAR
LEVEL NUMBER LANGUAGE
Advanced C1_3031G_EN English
Goals
■ Can identify the different
participle clauses and
explain their uses.
■ Can explain when to use
tense shifting and use it
when creating my own
sentences with participle
clauses.
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Brimming with anticipation, the
students prepared for their grammar
lesson.
Encouraged by their enthusiasm, the
teacher explained the participle clause.
With a sigh of satisfaction, they
mastered the new concept.
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Participle clauses
■ Participle clauses are a type of adverbial clause.
■ They can help us communicate more efficiently.
■ They are often seen in newspaper articles due to their passive voice.
Passing the concert hall on my right, I remembered our performances
with the school band.
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Present and past participle
Participle clauses begin with present or past participles.
■ Present participles of regular verbs end in -ing.
■ Past participles of regular verbs end in –ed.
■ Observe some regular verb examples below.
■ Some past participles are irregular, and do not follow the –ed rule (as in sung
below).
Past participle Present participle
laughed laughing
cycled cycling
hurried hurrying
followed following
sung singing
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Create past and present participles from the following verbs.
Some are irregular!
Past participle Present participle
run perform
steal pass
bring remember
sing show
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Participle clauses
■ Participle clauses begin with a present or past participle.
■ Participle clauses function as adjectives in a sentence.
■ Observe the examples below.
■ Sipping through his straw loudly,
Jimmy stared at the new student.
The participle clause adds more
information to the sentence,
describing what Jimmy was doing as
he stared.
■ Walking briskly down the path,
Lucy kept her eyes peeled for
singing robins.
The participle clause here explains
what Lucy was doing and how she was
doing it as she was looking for singing
robins.
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Participle clauses
Add an independent clause to each participle clause to
complete the sentence. What will each of the participle clauses
below describe?
Bringing as
Talking with an much energy as
air of authority he could to the
performance
Feeling
Viewing the
unsettled after
lecture from
watching the
the back row
film
Watched with
Running under
caution by the
the bridge
sheep
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Tell your teacher
Why might participle clauses be
effective and useful tools in our
writing?
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Presenting facts and emphasising time
■ Participle clauses can be used to add more information to a sentence or to
present facts.
■ They can also be used to emphasise when something happened in a
sentence, and if it went before something else.
■ When we do this, we use the following structure, the perfect participle:
■ having + past participle
Presenting facts/information: Emphasising time:
■ The people living down ■ Enjoying myself at the party, I realised all of
the road are very a sudden I hadn’t made an important phone
disruptive. call.
■ The refugees being ■ Sleeping through her alarm, Cate woke with
transported to better a start and realised she would be late.
housing are all very
friendly. ■ The children were let out to play having
completed their homework.
■ The group of people
protesting by the ■ Having completed all of her chores for the
factory are getting tired. day, Leila treated herself to a nap.
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Quick review
Turn back to the exercise on p. 6
and make a perfect participle with
all of the verbs on the page.
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Expressing a condition
■ Participle clauses can also be used to express a condition.
■ A sentence like ‘If you look at it closely, the paper is actually quite
straightforward.‘
■ Replacing the ‘if‘ with the past participle gives us:
■ ‘Looked at closely, the paper is actually quite straightforward‘, a
more efficient and less verbose sentence.
■ Looked after well, these boots will
last up to ten years.
■ You will be able to play two
encores, judging by the
audience‘s mood.
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Expressing a reason
■ Participle clauses are also useful for expressing a reason
■ A sentence expressing a reason for something might look like this:
■ I wanted to talk to Laura about our plans for the Christmas party, so I
organised to meet her for coffee.
■ Look at the format below and see how you can express this more efficiently
using a participle clause.
■ Remove the so (or therefore if a
different joining conjunction is
used).
■ Change the active verb to a
present participle.
■ The sentence becomes:
Wanting to talk to Laura about our
Christmas party plans, I organised to
meet her for coffee.
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Expressing a result of something
■ Participle clauses are also useful for expressing a result of something.
■ A sentence expressing a result of something might look like this:
■ I couldn‘t bear to talk about the restaurant again, since I listened to Andy
complaining all morning.
■ Look at the format below and see how you can express this more efficiently
using a participle clause.
■ Remove the because , since, or as
a result of.
■ Change listened to the perfect
participle: having listened.
■ The sentence becomes:
I couldn‘t bear to talk about the
restaurant again, having listened to
Andy complaining all morning.
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Rewrite the sentences to include participle clauses.
I wanted to organise a Although I enjoyed
trip to South Africa, so the food at the party, I
I started looking realised that I disliked
online for flights. the host.
Tom wasn’t in the
If you approach it with
mood to sit through
commitment, the
the film, since he had
guitar is an easy
seen it the week
instrument to learn.
before.
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Correct punctuation
■ When using a participle clause to introduce an independent clause, or when
following an independent clause with a participle clause, separate the two
clauses with a comma.
■ When putting a participle clause in the middle of a sentence, i.e. breaking up an
independent clause, no comma is needed.
Notice the comma use in the sentences
below:
■ Running back to the bungalow,
Josie realised her backpack was
gone.
■ Josie ran back to the bungalow,
having realised her backpack
was gone.
No comma is needed when you are
using a participle clause in the middle
of an independent clause:
■ The people living in the woods
were very nice.
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Punctuate these sentences correctly
1. Staring out the window Staring out of the window
mournfully David thought of mournfully, David thought of his
his friend back home. friend back home.
2. Silenced by the roar of the _______________________________________________________________
aeroplane Jacinta held her _________________________________________
tongue.
3. Humming quietly to himself _______________________________________________________________
Jan flung the newspaper into _________________________________________
the yard.
4. Thundering in the distance the _______________________________________________________________
storm rapidly approached the _________________________________________
coast.
5. My brother finally bought a _______________________________________________________________
house encouraged by the _________________________________________
healthy market.
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Write sentences including participle clauses to describe
these pictures. Use the examples for help if you need it.
Having stopped a Checking his phone
few times already... repeatedly...
Tired from the Not paying proper
hike... attention...
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Rewrite these sentences to include participle clauses
1. The animals were very ________________________________________
underfed.
________________________________________
2. While I was walking to the
________________________________________
train, I realised I had
forgotten my textbooks. ________________________________________
3. We wanted to see the
________________________________________
performance, so organised
the day off work. ________________________________________
________________________________________
4. That tablet is very good value.
________________________________________
________________________________________
5. The cake is nearly ready.
________________________________________
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Add participle clauses to these sentences
Remember, you can place the structure in differing parts of the
sentence. The first one has been done for you.
1. The lady fell off her chair, having laughed until her sides
ached.
2. My uncle’s suit was immaculately pressed and tailored.
3. Freddy approached the abandoned house.
4. I waited impatiently for the nurse to call my name.
5. I followed the driver through the centre of town, and out
towards the industrial district.
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Participle clauses
In what kinds of contexts might
using participle clauses be
effective?
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Combine the sentences in each pair below into single
sentences using participle clauses.
I waited for my friend to arrive Watching a cat play in the rubbish, I
outside the flat. waited for my friend to arrive outside
the flat.
________________________________________
I watched a cat playing in the
rubbish. ________________________________________
The man ate the jar of pickles slowly.
________________________________________
He was sitting in a stately green
armchair. ________________________________________
The girls were chasing each other in ________________________________________
the playground.
I watched the girls playing. ________________________________________
Sandra concentrated intensely, eyes ________________________________________
focused on the mirror.
She was giving herself a haircut. ________________________________________
I tried to finish watching the film a ________________________________________
few times.
I gave up and went to bed. ________________________________________
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When to use participle clauses
■ Participle clauses are used mostly in written English. They sound too formal to
be used regularly in speech.
■ They are effective and useful tools for including a large amount of information
in a sentence without making it overly long or clumsy.
■ Speaking to her friend with the
telephone in her left hand, Georgia
painted her nails with the brush in
her right hand.
This sentence is much more effective
and snappy than the long form below.
■ Georgia was speaking to her friend
with the telephone in her left hand
and painting her nails with the
brush in her right hand.
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Dangling participle
■ Be aware that it is very easy to misuse participle clauses and create dangling
participles.
■ When a modifying part of the sentence is placed too far away from the subject it
modifies you end up with poorly constructed sentences that readers can find
confusing.
■ The clause should relate clearly to a noun or a pronoun in a sentence. If not, it
is left to hang there with nothing to grasp on to.
■ I was walking down the highway. The traffic roared loudly.
■ Walking down the highway, the traffic roared loudly.
■ Traffic is the subject of the sentence above, and they follow the participle clause.
What the clumsy sentence is saying is that the traffic was walking down the
highway – not what was intended.
■ To fix dangling participles, add the proper subject immediately after the clause.
■ Walking down the highway, I could hear the traffic roaring loudly.
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Dangling participle
■ Be careful when combining two clauses that refer to different subjects.
■ Observe the sentences below:
■ I climbed carefully into the boat. The captain was starting the engine.
If we change the first sentence to a
participle clause and drop the I we can
easily end up with a confusing
sentence:
■ Climbing carefully into the boat, the
captain was starting the engine.
This example makes it seem like the
captain was climbing into the boat.
To avoid this, add the I to the
sentence:
■ Climbing carefully into the boat, I
saw the captain starting the engine.
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Alter the sentences
Rewrite these sentences to fix the dangling participle.
1. Running quickly up the path, the trees swayed in the distance.
2. Sailing swiftly over the rapids, the waterfall rumbling softly
ahead.
3. Hungrily eyeing the table, the food sat untouched.
4. Running after the pigeons, the ears flopped in the breeze.
5. Listening to the music, the records sat arranged on the
bookshelf.
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Arranging participle clauses
■ Participle clauses can appear at the beginning, middle or end of a sentence.
■ Be aware that shifting the clause to different positions can make some
sentences sound more awkward or confusing.
■ Finding law school difficult, Sandra
decided to drop out and try
something new.
■ Sandra decided to drop out and try
something new, finding law school
difficult.
■ Sandra, finding law school difficult,
decided to drop out and try
something new.
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Rewrite these sentences, placing the participle clause in
another part of the sentence.
1. Disgusted by the behaviour of his
Richard decided he would never
teammates, Richard decided he attend training again, disgusted
would never attend training again. by the behaviour of his
teammates.
2. Reading the second page of the _______________________________________________________________
newspaper, Grandfather fell asleep _________________________________________
in his chair.
3. Singing from the heart, Brandon _______________________________________________________________
reveled in the skill and beauty of _________________________________________
his voice.
4. Talking to the bus driver, Jenny _______________________________________________________________
didn’t notice the 5 dollar note slip _________________________________________
out of her wallet.
5. I really didn’t understand what the _______________________________________________________________
lecture was about, sitting in the _________________________________________
back row.
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Rewrite the passage, inserting participle clauses where
appropriate.
Barbara stepped softly into the
graveyard. She could hear a soft
wailing in the distance. Behind
her she could feel the gaze of
some unseen being. She felt a
shiver down the back of her
spine and glanced behind her.
Two luminous eyes glowed in the
darkness like fireflies. They
pierced her heart and filled her
soul with fear. She turned to run
and tripped over her own feet.
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Write a description
You have recently returned from a stimulating four day hike of
some local mountain ranges with some close friends. Describe
the day-to-day events and what you saw in detail. Use
participle clauses to avoid becoming overly verbose. Try to vary
the length of your sentences.
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Reflect on the lesson
Take a moment to review any new
vocabulary, phrases, language
structures or grammar points you have
come across for the first time in this
lesson.
Review them with your teacher one more
time to make sure you don’t forget!
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Exercise p. 6
Run: run, running, Perform: performed, performing, Steal: stolen, stealing, Pass:
Passed, passing, Remember: remembered, remembering, Bring: brought, bringing,
Sing: Sung, singing, Show: shown, showing
Exercise p. 11
Having run, having performed, having stolen, having passed, having remembered,
having brought, having sung, having shown.
Exercise p. 14
Wanting to organise a trip to South Africa, I started looking online for flights.
Despite having enjoyed the food at the party, I realised I disliked the host.
Tom wasn’t in the mood to sit through the film, having seen it the week before.
Approached with commitment, the guitar is an easy instrument to learn.
Exercise p. 17:
Add a comma between participle clause and independent clause each time.
Answer key
Homework
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Matching: complete the sentences
1. Fearing that my house might be robbed,
2. Sitting in the windswept garden,
3. Sneaking past the sentries,
4. Giuseppe tucked into his meal
a. I studied the carefully arranged flowerbeds with curiousity.
b. the soldier advanced stealthily past the front line.
c. I double locked my front door when I went to work.
d. slurping the spaghetti noisily between his lips.
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Creative writing activity
Pick one of the characters in the previous homework activity.
Write a short account of their day, from morning to evening. Be
sure to use a range of participle clauses to include additional
information.
Rising from their bed…
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Homework answer key
Homework task p.31 – 1C, 2A, 3B, 4D
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