Participles And Participle Phrases

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| By Julie.tiedens

Julie.tiedens

Community Contributor

Quizzes Created: 5 | Total Attempts: 42,030

Questions: 10 | Attempts: 2,879 | Updated: Mar 22, 2023

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Questions and Answers

1.

Identify the participial phrase in the following sentence. Running through the water, the children of the city romped under the spray of the hydrant.
- A.
  
  Running through the water
- B.
  
  Through the water
- C.
  
  Romped under the spray of the hydrant
- D.
  
  Children of the city
Correct Answer
A. Running through the water

Explanation
"Running through the water" is a phrase that is separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. If it is describing a noun before or, in this case, after it, then it is a participial phrase.

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2.

Is the word running in the following sentence a participle? The worker washed his hands in the running water of the stream.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
The word "running" appears between the determiner "the" and the noun "water." This is a strong clue that it is functioning as a participle, but more questions need to be asked. What kind of water is it? The word "running" tells the reader what kind of "water" is being described.

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1
3.

Is the word spinning in the following sentence a participle? Is the spider spinning a web in the barn?
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
B. False

Explanation
Remember: Determine if a verb in the sentence is a helping verb. Because "is" is a helping verb, then it is part of the verb phrase with "spinning."

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4.

Is the word digging in the following sentence a participle? A shovel definitely fits the category of a digging tool.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
The word "digging" appears between the determiner "a" and the noun it modifies "tool." What kind of tool is it? It is functioning as a participle.

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5.

A participial phrase functions as the following part of speech in a sentence.
- A.
  
  Noun
- B.
  
  Verb
- C.
  
  Adjective
Correct Answer
C. Adjective

Explanation
It modifies the noun.

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6.

Participial phrases in the present tense begin with words that end in
- A.
  
  -ed
- B.
  
  -ing
Correct Answer
B. -ing

Explanation
Participial phrases in the present tense begin with words that end in "-ing". This is because the present participle form of a verb is formed by adding "-ing" to the base form of the verb. Participial phrases are used to provide additional information about the subject of a sentence and are often used to modify nouns. For example, in the sentence "The running water sounded soothing," the participial phrase "running water" modifies the noun "water" and describes the type of water. Therefore, the correct answer is "-ing".

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7.

Participial phrases in the past tense begin with words that end in
- A.
  
  -ed
- B.
  
  -ing
Correct Answer
A. -ed

Explanation
Participial phrases in the past tense begin with words that end in "-ed". This is because the "-ed" ending indicates the past participle form of a verb. A past participle is used to form the past tense or the passive voice in English. For example, in the sentence "He walked to the store," the word "walked" is the past participle of the verb "walk". Participial phrases in the past tense function as adjectives and provide additional information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence.

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8.

Read the following sentence. Identify the participial phrase. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories.
- A.
  
  Suffering great tragedy in his life
- B.
  
  Wrote disturbing stories
- C.
  
  Poe wrote disturbing stories
- D.
  
  Disturbing stories
Correct Answer
A. Suffering great tragedy in his life

Explanation
The participial phrase in the sentence is "suffering great tragedy in his life." It functions as an adjective and provides additional information about Poe. It describes the state or condition he was in while writing disturbing stories.

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9.

Read the following sentence. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories. The participial phrase in this example is in the
- A.
  
  Past tense
- B.
  
  Present tense
Correct Answer
B. Present tense

Explanation
The participial phrase "suffering great tragedy in his life" is in the present tense because it describes an ongoing action or state that is happening at the same time as the main verb "wrote." The present tense indicates that the suffering and writing are happening simultaneously.

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10.

Read the following sentence. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories. The participial phrase in this example modifies which word?
- A.
  
  Wrote
- B.
  
  Stories
- C.
  
  Disturbing
- D.
  
  Poe
Correct Answer
D. Poe

Explanation
The participial phrase "suffering great tragedy in his life" provides additional information about Poe, indicating that he experienced significant hardships. Therefore, the participial phrase modifies the word "Poe."

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Current Version
Mar 22, 2023

Quiz Edited by
ProProfs Editorial Team
Feb 03, 2015

Quiz Created by
Julie.tiedens

Participles And Participle Phrases

Identify the participial phrase in the following sentence. Running through the water, the children of the city romped under the spray of the hydrant.

Is the word running in the following sentence a participle? The worker washed his hands in the running water of the stream.

Is the word spinning in the following sentence a participle? Is the spider spinning a web in the barn?

Is the word digging in the following sentence a participle? A shovel definitely fits the category of a digging tool.

A participial phrase functions as the following part of speech in a sentence.

Participial phrases in the present tense begin with words that end in

Participial phrases in the past tense begin with words that end in

Read the following sentence. Identify the participial phrase. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories.

Read the following sentence. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories. The participial phrase in this example is in the

Read the following sentence. Poe, suffering great tragedy in his life, wrote disturbing stories. The participial phrase in this example modifies which word?