Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases
Participial phrases are made of a present participle (VERB-ing) or past participle (VERB-ed or VERB-en) plus any modifiers that complete the idea. These phrases serve as adjectives or adverbs within a sentence and usually need to come next to the words they describe.
The "monkey" (the noun that follows the phrase) is in the trees.
In this case, "I" (the noun that follows the phrase) am swinging from the trees, not the monkey.
Thrilled to win the prize, Mary tripped when she ran up the stairs.
Note: if the participial phrase precedes the wrong noun, it is confusing to the reader. Exhausted after two hours of running, Sandra saw her husband collapse at the finish line.
In this case, it seems clear that the husband is the one who is exhausted, but the structure of the sentence means that is Sandra.
Rewrite for clarity: Exhausted after two hours of running, Sandra's husband collapsed at the finish line. or Sandra saw her husband, exhausted after two hours of running, collapse at the finish line.
"Holding the gun" helps to identify which man, so no commas are needed.
"Wearing a red dress" helps to identify which woman, so no commas are needed.
The moon robot, activated by a remote switch, started moving slowly across the surface. The "moon robot" is already clearly identified, and "activated by a remote switch" adds information but isn't necessary for identification, so commas are needed. Jenna Kim, driven wild with anger, shot her husband.
Proper nouns, such as "Jenna Kim," are considered identified, so a participial phrase that follows cannot be necessary for identification and must have commas.
"Swinging from the trees follows the noun ("monkey") that it describes, and no special emphasis seems needed so no commas are necessary.
In this case, "fearing being left behind" describes "Huang," not "the crowd," so the comma is
necessary to separate "crowd" from the phrase. This pause helps the reader to understand the meaning. Note: it's always better for clarity to put the participial phrase right next to the noun it describes, but it is sometimes awkward to construct such a sentence when the phrase occurs at the end of the sentence.
A comma follows "teenagers" to separate it from the participial phrase and help to make clear that the "monkey" is the one provoked. Note: the pronoun "their" also helps to make the meaning clear.
There is no comma because "spilled on the desk" describes which milk (not the milk on the floor, for example) and is identifying.
No commas are used here because the man has the gun. This information is identifying. Note: a comma could mean either that the information is not identifying or that John has the gun. In that case, the participial phrase would be ambiguous or confusing.