Participles & Participial Phrases

Participles are words that look like verbs and act like adjectives.

You could say that they have identity issues.

Words that are made of verbs but don't act like verbs are called verbals. There are two other kinds of verbals: gerunds and infinitives.)

Like I said, these are made of verbs but act like adjectives.

Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns.

They end in -ing, -d, -t, or -n.

Here are some examples. Notice that each one is made of a verb but is modifying a noun.

Diagramming

Since these guys act as adjectives, they are diagrammed in a very similar way to how adjectives are diagrammed.

It's easy to see that they modify nouns and pronouns because they are diagrammed on a slanted, curved line underneath the noun or pronoun that they modify.

Phrases are groups of words that act as a single part of speech.

Participial phrases consist of a participle along with all of its modifiers and complements.

Here are three examples. Notice that each phrase is modifying a noun.

Example 1

• The participial phrase is crying in the night.

• It modifies the noun babies.

Example 2

• The participial phrase is frozen for over five years.

• It is modifies the noun food.

Example 3

• The participial phrase is burned on each side.

• It modifies the noun toast.

When diagramming these, start by identifying the participle and the noun that it is modifying.

You already know that you diagram it by putting it on curved, slanted line under the noun that it modifies.

After that, find out what the rest of the phrase consists of and diagram it accordingly.

I'll walk you through the steps using this sentence:

• Step 1: Find the participle. (filled)

• Step 2: Find the noun that it modifies. (shoe)

• Step 3: Find the rest of the phrase. (with mud)

• Step 4: Figure out what the rest of the phrase is doing.

  This is where your other grammar knowledge comes into play. In order to diagram this, you need to know that with mud is a prepositional phrase.

  This prepositional phrase is modifying filled. That means that we diagram the prepositional phrase underneath filled.

  Check it out:

To learn more diagramming, check out these English grammar exercises.

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