Belajar Bahasa Inggris: Participle and Participial Phrase
Participles
are nonfinite verb forms; that is, they cannot serve as main verbs in
sentences, but they can help form verb phrases or function as adjectives. Like
finite verbs, they can take objects and modifiers to form participial phrases.
Present participles end in –ing
(living, studying, flowing, driving, eating). Past participles of regular verbs end in –ed (lived, studied, wasted); past
participles of irregular verbs often end in –n or –en (blown, driven,
eaten) but sometimes have other irregular forms (slept, clung, swum). Together
with objects or modifiers, participles may form phrases, as in the following:
Eating through the sills of the house, the termites caused great damage.
Because
they are comprised of verb forms, participial phrases are particularly useful
for conveying action, as the preceding examples indicate.
a. Definition
Participle
according to Glenn Leggett (1985:94) is defined as follow: “A participle is a
verb form usually end in –ing or –ed and used as an adjective to modify a
noun or pronoun.”
Whereas
participial phrase by Glenn Leggett (1985:14) is defined as follow:
Participial
phrases consist of a present or past participle, its modifiers, and/or its
object (lying on the beach, found in the street, eating a large dinner). Participial
phrases always function as adjectives describing either nouns or pronouns.
By
Glenn Leggett (1985:94) is also defined as follow: “A participial phrase
consists of a participle, its object, and any modifiers of the participle or
object.” For example:
The
dog running in the yard belongs to my
mother.
(in the yard modifies running)
The man walking his dog is my father.
(his dog as an object of walking)
Covered with ice,
the road was dangerous.
(with
ice modifies covered)
Beaten
twice by Martina, Chris fought to win the last game.
(twice by Martina modifies beaten)
Mellie
John (1979:407) defines participial phrase as follow: “A participial phrase is
one made up of a present or a past participle and other words that complete or
modify it.”
Lester
and Beason (2004:99) define participial phrase more briefly: “Participial
phrases are phrases headed by either a present participle or past participle.”
Alice and Ann Hogue (1999:232) define participial phrase: “Participial phrases
are groups of words that contain participles + other modifiers.” Further,
Lester and Beason (2004:102) say that “Participial phrases are really a kind of
reduced adjective clause.”
Josua, steadily gaining confidence, was able to parallel park the car.
steadily gaining
confidence is a participial phrase that modifies Josua.
Steadily is an adverb that modifies a participle, gaining.
Confidence is a direct object of gaining.
a. Function
of Participial Phrase
The
followings are about the function of participial phrase.
According
to a source, M:\9-TLC\TLC Web Design\Handouts
Worksheets\Grammar.Punctuation.Writing\Phrase-Participial.doc: “The participial
phrase is always used as an adjective phrase to modify a noun or pronoun.”
“The sole
function of participial phrase is to modify nouns. Participial phrases function
as noun modifiers.” (Lester and Beason,
2004:99)
“Participial
phrases always function as adjectives describing either nouns or pronouns” (Glenn Leggett, 1985:14). “Participial
phrases are used to modify nouns and pronouns,” said Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue
(1999: 232).
“Most
participial phrases have adjective function. Such phrases, like the adjective
clauses which alternate with them, may be restrictive or nonrestrictive.”
(Marcella Frank, 1972:307)
“Participial
phrases are really a kind of reduced adjective clause. Like adjective clauses,
participial phrases can be used in either restrictive or nonrestrictive ways”
(Lester and Beason, 2004:102). Here are examples of restrictive and
nonrestrictive present participial phrases (participial phrases in italics):
Restrictive Students arriving late will not be permitted to enter the lecture hall.
Nonrestrictive
Henry, arriving late, was not permitted to enter the lecture hall.
(arriving late does not limit the
reference of Henry)
Here
are examples of restrictive and nonrestrictive past participial phrases
(participial phrases in italics):
Restrictive The houses located on the flood plain all suffered
extensive damage.
Nonrestrictive
The hikers, gasping for breath and nearly exhausted,
struggled on.
Participial
phrases often provide an alternative way of expressing information or ideas
that can be expressed in sentences or dependent clauses. Compare the following:
Independent clause: Writing is a slow process. It
requires considerable thought and time.
Dependent clause: Writing is a slow process, which requires considerable thought and time.
Participial phrase: Writing is a slow process, requiring considerable thought and time.
“By
providing an alternate construction for an adjective clause, the participial
phrase enables a speaker or writer to avoid succession of adjective clauses.”
(Marcella Frank, 1972:312) Notice the following:
He showed me a book describing (for which described)
children’s
literature which he had taken from the library.
Added
by Marcella Frank, “Normally, the participial phrase precedes the adjective
clause, as in the example just given.”
a. Kinds
of Participial Phrases
Lester
and Beason (2004:99) define participial phrase as follow: “Participial phrases
are phrases headed by either a present participle or past participle.”
Mellie
John (1979:407) defines participial phrase as follow: “A participial phrase is
one made up of a present or a past participle and other words that complete or
modify it.”
According
to the quotations above, there are also two kinds of participial phrases. Here
are examples of present and past participial phrases (participial phrases in
italics, participles in bolt, and nouns modified in underline):
Present
Participial Phrase:
The
reporter covering the accident
interviewed the survivors.
The
man wearing the silly hat
is my cousin.
The
incident amused the people waiting in line.
Past
Participial Phrase:
The
houses located on the flood
plain all suffered extensive damage.
The
quote was from a play written by Shakespeare.
The data required for the report was not available on the internet.
The
relationship between participial phrase and its function according to what is
said by Bruce Rogers (2007:165):
“Participial
phrases (a participle and related words) are often used after nouns.
Participial phrases used this way are actually reduced (shortened) adjective
clauses. Present participles are used to reduce adjective clauses that
contain active verbs and past participles are used to reduce adjective clauses
with passive verbs.”
Present
participles are used to reduce adjective clauses that contain active verbs.
Minnesota,
which joined the Union in 1858,
became the thirty-second state. (full adjective clause with an active verb)
Minnesota, joining the Union in 1858, became the
thirty-second state. (participial phrase with a present participle)
Past
participles are used to reduce adjective clauses with passive verbs.
The
College of William and Mary, which was
founded in 1693, is the second oldest college in the United States. (full
adjective clause with a passive verb)
The
College of William and Mary, founded in
1693, is the second oldest college in the United States. (participial
phrase with a past participle)
a. Position
in a sentence
In
contrast to relative clauses, which ordinary must follow immediately after the
nouns they modify, participial phrases can precede the nouns they modify. A
participial phrase can usually be placed at more than one point in a sentence.
The
position of participial phrase according to http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/creatpartphrase.htm accessed 19/09/2011
can be at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Notice the following
quotation: “A participial phrase is flexible, a structure that can be place at
the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.”
Participial phrase can also come before
the subject of a sentence.
Crying
for milk, the baby woke everyone up.
Participial phrase can also come at the
middle of a sentence.
The baby, crying for milk, woke everyone up.
Participial phrase can also come at the
end of a sentence.
The baby woke everyone up, crying for milk.
As
possible as you can, avoid dangling participial phrases. Since participial
phrases are somewhat flexible in their position, they often permit you to vary
sentence structure to fit a particular purpose in a given paragraph. You must,
however, be careful not to create misplace modifiers with participial phrases.
Notice the following quotation: “Nonrestrictive participial phrases do have one
feature that is unique among noun modifiers: participial phrases can be moved
away from the nouns they modify.” (Lester and Beason, 2004:102)
Here are examples of participial phrases that
are moved at the beginning of a sentence.
Sitting in his
office, the President called the Vice-president.
Fearing failure,
the students was very anxious about the test.
The
fact that participial phrases can be moved away from the nouns they modify
creates the condition for a particular grammatical error known as a dangling participial or dangling modifier.
A dangling modifier is an out-and-out grammatical error. The error results from
incorrectly formed modifying participial. A participle is said to dangle when
it is not properly attached to the noun that it apparently modifies. When a
participial phrase is moved to the beginning of the sentence, we assume that
the participial phrase modifies the subject—the nearest noun. However, when
participial phrase does not literally modify the subject, then the participle
is dangling. Here is an example of a dangling participle (participial phrase in
italics):
DANGLING Coming home late, the house was dark.
[There is nothing in the sentence that can sensibly be coming home. A revision
must identify some person.]
REVISED Coming home late, we found the house was
dark.
When
we came home late, the house was dark.
To
avoid misplaced (dangling) participial phrase, we must usually pay attention to
the following:
“The
subject of a participial phrase is
usually a noun or pronoun in the main clause.” (Marcella Frank, 1972:305)
Lester and Beason also said that “Multiword participial phrases—participles
together with modifiers and/or complements—follow
the nouns they modify.” As Pat Belanoff (1993:78) emphasized that “Clarify
is promoted when a writer keeps all modifiers as close as possible to what they
modify.”
From
the quotations above, we can learn one important thing, that is, to avoid
dangling participial phrase, place modifiers near the words they modify.
a. Time
Besides
suggesting action, participial constructions are especially useful for
describing events that occur at the same time as those in the main clause. As
Marcella Frank (1972:305) said that “The time that is intended in a participial
phrase is established by the main verb.” Based on main verb, present participle
can indicate:
Present time.
The woman addressing
the audience now is a famous scientist.
(main verb is “is” and indicates simple present tense)
Past time.
The
trapped miners, hoping to be rescued soon,
told stories to keep up their morale. (main verb is told and indicates simple past tense)
Future time.
A
person traveling in foreign countries
will need to take the required documents. (main verb is will need and indicates simple future tense)
Participial phrases can be formed by
reducing relative clauses and adverbial clauses.
Participial
Phrases from Relative Clauses
Participial
phrases are formed by reducing subject pattern relative clauses.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
|
PARTICIPIAL
PHRASES
|
The pedestrian, who was bleeding from several wounds, waited for someone to help
him.
An ambulance that was summoned by a bystander came quickly.
|
The pedestrian, bleeding from several wounds, waited for someone to help him.
An ambulance summoned by a bystander came quickly.
|
To
form a participial phrase from a relative clause, delete the relative pronoun (who, which,
or that) and change the verb to a
participle. Put the word not at the
beginning of a participial phrase to make it negative:
The car’s driver, not realizing what had happened, continued on his way.
Participial
Phrases from Adverbial Clauses
Participial
phrases can also be formed from adverbial clauses. Time and reason clauses
introduced by the subordinators after,
while, when, before, since, because, and as can be
reduced to participial phrases if the subjects of both the adverbial and
independent clauses are the same.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE Before I left home,
I promised my parents that I would return.
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE Before
leaving home, I promised my parents that I would return.
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE I promised my parents that I would return before
leaving home.
To
change an adverbial clause to a participial phrase, follow these steps:
STEP 1 Make
sure that the subject of the adverbial clause and the subject of the
independent clause are the same.
While
technology creates new jobs in some
sectors of the economy, it takes
away jobs in others.
STEP 2 Delete
the subject of the adverbial clause. If necessary, move it to the subject
position in the independent clause.
While technology creates new jobs in some
sectors of the economy, it takes
away jobs in others.
STEP 3 Change the adverbial clause verb to the appropriate
participle.
While
creating new jobs in some sectors of the economy, technology takes away jobs in others.
STEP 4 Delete or retain the subordinator according to the
following rules:
a. Retain
before, and retain since when it is a time subordinator.
b. Delete
all three reason subordinators because,
since, and as. Delete as when it is
a time subordinator.
c. Retain
after, while, and when if the
participial phrase follows the independent clause. When the phrase is in
another position, you may either retain or delete these subordinators.
A
participial phrase from an adverbial clause may occupy several positions in a
sentence. If a participial phrase from a reduced adverbial clause comes in
front of or in the middle of the independent clause, punctuate it with commas.
If it comes after the independent clause, do not use commas.
The
following examples show you some of the possible variations of this structure.
Retain
before
since
(time)
|
Before
a student chooses a college, he or she should consider several factors.
Before
choosing a college, a student should consider several factors.
A student should consider several
factors before choosing a college.
Carlos
hasn’t been back home since he came to the United States three years ago.
Since
coming to the United States three years ago, Carlos hasn’t been back
home.
Carlos hasn’t been back home since coming to the United States three
years ago.
|
Delete
because
since
as
(reason)
as
(time)
|
Because
(Since/As) Carlos came from a very conservative family, he was shocked at the
American system of coed dormitories.
Coming
from a very conservative family, Carlos was shocked at the American system of coed
dormitories.
As
he gradually got used to American customs, he became less homesick.
Gradually
getting used to American customs, he became less homesick.
|
Retain or
Delete
after
while
when
|
After
he had passed the TOEFL exam, he became a freshman at his college.
After
passing the TOEFL exam, he became a freshman at his college.
Having
passed the TOEFL exam, he became
a freshman at his college.
he became a freshman at his college after passing the TOEFL exam.
While
he was preparing for the TOEFL, he lived with an American family.
While
preparing for the TOEFL, he lived with an American family.
Preparing
for the TOEFL, he lived with an
American family.
He lived with an American family While preparing for the TOEFL
When
he was asked about his life in the United States, he said that he was
enjoying himself, but that he was a little homesick.
When
asked about his life in the United States, he said that he was enjoying
himself, but that he was a little homesick.
Asked
about his life in the United States, he said that he was enjoying
himself, but that he was a little homesick.
|