Each italicized word in these sentences is a participle.
Mom’s puzzling answer confused us.
These squandered opportunities will not come again soon.
This forgotten soldier will be honored by the townspeople
next weekend.
The paid workers were happy with their salaries.
Steve’s unsent messages were still stored in his computer.
A driven athlete will push herself to the limit.
➲ A participial phrase consists of the participle, its modifiers, and other
words needed to complete the idea begun by the participle. This type of
phrase generally follows immediately after or right before the noun
it describes.
The participial phrase is underlined in each sentence.
Leaving the press conference, the politician felt confident about
her answers.
A memo sent to all the employees was well received.
The teacher’s best lesson delivered to his eighth graders dealt with
literary allusions.
My dad’s present, bought by his sisters, was a gold watch.
Acclaimed by many critics as the year’s best movie, The Sound of
Music won many awards.
The Sound of Music, acclaimed by many critics as the year’s
best movie, won many awards.
