In this post, we learn what a present participle phrase is, and how to use it in a sentence correctly.
What is a Present participle phrase?
A phrase that starts with a present participle and modifies a noun in a sentence is called a present participle phrase. It starts with a present participle (an ING form of a verb) and is followed by its object and/or a modifier.
It generally modifies a noun by talking about its state (what the person is doing).
Possible structures:
- Present participle + object + modifier/s
- Present participle + object
- Present participle + modifier/s
Examples:
- The girl sitting beside the tree is the topper of our class.
Sitting – present participle
Besides the tree – adverb phrase (modifier)
Sitting beside the tree is the present participle phrase that’s starting with the present participle ‘sitting’ and modifying the noun ‘girl’. It tells us which girl the speaker is talking about by giving information about her.
- Wearing a black coat, he enters the hall and waves at the students.
Wearing – Present participle
A black coat – the object of the verb ‘wearing’
The present participle phrase is telling us the state of the noun it’s modifying. When the subject (he) entered the hall and waved at the students, he was in a certain attire: wearing a black coat. So, the present participle phrase identifies the pronoun ‘he’ and gives us information about him.
- Feeding the little girl with his own hand, Avi started crying.
Feeding – present participle
the little girl – the object of the verb ‘feeding’
with his own hand – adverb phrase
The main clause is “Avi started crying.” The present participle phrase is telling us in what state the subject (he) was when he started crying: he was feeding the little girl with his own hand.
Usages of a present participle phrase
Present participle phrases are often used in the following ways:
- To identify a noun and describe it
- To give the reason of the main clause
- To give the result of an action
1. To identify the noun
Present participle phrases are often used to help the readers or listeners identify or get more information about a noun or pronoun. The information it provides can be essential or nonessential.
Nobody likes to talk with the man sitting on the rock alone.
Present participle – sitting
Modifier (adverb phrase) – on the rock alone
Here, the present participle phrase identifies the noun ‘man’ and gives essential information about him.
Listening to his favorite songs, Max checked all the papers and signed the posters.
Present participle – listening
to – preposition
the object of the preposition – his favorite songs
In this example, the present participle phrase modifies the noun ‘Max’ with extra information; Max is already a proper noun and needs no modification in order to be identified. It is describing the scene while he is checking the papers and signing the posters. The scene is that he is listening to some songs while performing doing actions.
Examples:-
- Holding a cup of coffee in her hands, Jyoti watched us play cricket.
- Look at the little girl walking on the rope.
- He shook my hand and said goodbye, tears rolling down her cheeks.
- We hid behind a wall, watching the boys rob a shop.
- They are looking for the man living with you.
- Can you see the tiny girl playing with the sand? She looks adorable doing that.
- We entered the haunted house, trembling and sweating with fear.
2. To give the reason of the main clause
Present participle phrases sometimes introduce the reason for the action of the main clause.
Looking at the picture of his mother, Max started smiling.
Present participle – looking
Modifier (adverb of place) – at the picture of his mother
‘Max started crying’ is the main clause. Looking at the picture of his mother (the present participle phrase) identifies the subject ‘Max’ and causes (makes) him smile.
Examples:
- Knowing he needed the money urgently for the surgery, he started panicking and crying.
- Listening to what her colleagues said about her, she left the room and started crying.
- Missing the college days, I called my friends.
- Looking at the positive side of the job offer, Max accepted it.
3. To give the result of an action
We sometimes use Present participle phrases to introduce the result of an action. When they introduce the result of the main clause, they often come at the end of the sentence.
- The car exploded into the house, hurting people sitting on the couch.
Present participle – hurting
object – people
modifier (present participle phrase) – sitting on the couch
The present participle phrase here is a result of the main clause. Notice the present participle (hurting) follows the subject of the main clause (the car): it is the car that hurt people who were sitting on the couch.
Examples:
- He started talking about the death of his child, leaving everyone in tears.
- The plane crashed into the building, destroying it and killing more than 200 people.
- The government opened up the theatres, supermarkets, and beaches, giving everyone a reason to be happy about.
- The company hired us all, giving us an opportunity to prove that you don’t have a piece of paper to prove your worth.
Note: the present participle in the present participle phrase follows the subject of the main clause.
Position of a present participle phrase
A present participle phrase can take the following three positions:
- Beginning of a sentence
- In the middle of a sentence
- At the end of the sentence
Beginning of a sentence
This is the most common position of a present participle phrase in writing. Note that we use a comma right after the phrase to offset it from the main clause.
Examples:-
- Holding a cup of tea, Jon enters the building.
- Laying on the bed, Charu wrote the entire post.
- Sitting in the exam room, I realised I didn’t love giving exams anymore.
Middle of a sentence
Sometimes, a present participle phrase comes right after the subject (noun/pronoun).
Examples:
- Alex, looking into his phone, told us to leave the room.
- He, sitting on a gaming chair, took the class.
End of a sentence
We can have a present participle phrase after the object of a preposition. Sometimes, it comes after a complete sentence, separating the main clause and indicating the post effect of the main clause or simply modifying a noun, or the subject of the main clause.
Examples:
- They caught the guy wearing the red jacket the other day.
(coming next to and identifying the noun ‘guy’)
- I was talking about the man sitting next to your sister.
(coming next to and identifying the noun ‘man’)
- Conor submitted Justin in the final round, leaving everyone surprised.
(The present participle phrase is not identifying any noun/pronoun here, It’s modifying the complete main clause, showing the result of the action in the main clause)
- She left the room, fuming and crying.
(Here, the present participle phrase is identifying the subject ‘she’, and telling us what her state was while she was leaving the room.)
Key points!
1. Don’t confuse a present participle phrase with a gerund phrase.
It is very common to confuse present participle phrases with gerund phrases as both of them start with a present participle (v+ing) and have objects and/or modifiers in them.
But a gerund phrase works as a noun whereas a present participle phrase works as an adjective or an adverb in a sentence.
Examples:
- Listening to his favorite songs, he finished editing the video.
Listening to his favorite songs is the present participle phrase starting with the present participle listening and modifying the pronoun he. It is not working as a noun here.
- Listening to his favorite songs makes him happy. (subject)
- He loves listening to his favorite songs. (The object of the verb loves)
- His favorite hobby is listening to his favorite songs. (The subject complement)
- He is crazy about listening to his favorite songs. (The object of the preposition about)
Here, the phrase ‘listening to his favorite songs’ is working as a noun.
Notice a present participle phrase modifies something, generally a noun, in the main clause, and a gerund phrase works as a noun.
2. Participle phrases and commas!
We have used commas with some participle phrases, and with others, we have not. So, how do we know if we have to use commas with a participle phrase or not? Let’s understand this.
1. If a participle gives essential information about the noun it modifies, don’t use a comma.
- The girl dancing on the stage is my sister. (giving essential information about the noun ‘girl’)
- I was talking about the man sitting at the back bench with Riya. (giving essential information about the noun ‘man’)
Here, the present participle phrases (in red) help us to identify the noun the speaker is referring to.
2. If a participle gives nonessential information about the noun it modifies, use commas to offset it.
- Holding a cup of tea, Jon enters the building.
- Joe Rogan, living the life of a martial artist, is the owner of JRE, the most popular podcast on the internet.
Notice that the noun these present participle phrases are referring to is already identified and proper.
3. Present participle phrases either modify a noun or a verb, or a complete sentence.
Generally, a present participle phrase modifies a noun or a pronoun, but it can also modify a verb or a complete sentence.
Examples:
- Motivating the class and giving them clarity about life, Ashish broke down. (modifying the noun ‘Ashish’)
- Missing the college days, I called my friends. (modifying the verb ‘called’)
- The car exploded into the house, hurting people sitting on the couch. ((modifying the main clause)
4. Don’t misplace your present participle phrase.
People often misplace participle phrases (both present and past participle phrases), which modify or appear to modify a wrong noun or nothing in a sentence.
Study the below examples to understand this:
- Max bought a new car looking forward to impress people.
Notice that the present participle phrase is coming next to the noun ‘car’ and seem to modify it. But can a car look forward to something? Is it a human being? Does it have feelings? No! The noun it intends to modify is Max, but since it is placed far away from it, close to another noun, it seems to modify the noun ‘car’ incorrectly.
- Trying to get some money, the house had to be sold.
Trying to get some money is the present participle phrase that appears to modify the subject of the sentence ‘the house’. But can the house (an object) really do an action? Can it lose a job? It can’t, right? And there is nothing else in the sentence that can be modified. So, the present participle phrase becomes dangling: hanging in the sentence without the word or words it intends to modify.
Hope you enjoyed reading the post and mastered the topic! :). Feel free to correct any typing mistakes you come across. Contact me at [email protected] for one-on-one classes.
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Hi Ashish,
Thanks a lot about your teaching. I was wondering to know about one of your example :
Wearing a black coat, he enters the hall and waves at the students.
Why you said ‘he enters’ why you didn’t say ‘he entered’ .
Appreciate your consideration.
Hello, Moralido!
Yes, it should be in the past tense. But this also refers back to the past. We sometimes use the Simple Present tense to talk about a past action, generally when we are narrating something or describing an entire event.
That being said, using the verb in the past tense here is better.
dear teacher I’m of the flower of your YouTube the last lesson about present participles result is so confuse please persuade me
Present participle result what is the difference between these sentences why some joining the word which and another joining the word (and ) for examples
E.g A bomb exploded, killing three people.
(A bomb exploded and it killed three people.)
He forgot their anniversary, making her very upset. (Which)
The government opened up the theatres, supermarkets, and beaches, giving everyone a reason to be happy about.
He started talking about the death of his child, leaving everyone in tears.
Thank you for the follow, Maxamed. I am not sure If I understood your question clearly. Could you please ask it again?
He forgot their aniversary, making her very upset.
A bomb exploded, killing three people.
(A bomb exploded and it killed three people.)
Why the frist sentence take ( which) and second sentence take (and) when both are present participles result.
This senteces is the same above sentence” take which or and ”
He started talking about the death of his child, leaving everyone in tears.
The plane crashed into the building, destroying it and killing more than 200 people.
The government opened up the theatres, supermarkets, and beaches, giving everyone a reason to be happy about.
The company hired us all, giving us an opportunity to prove that you don’t a piece of paper to prove your worth.
I am not sure if I understood your question. Could you please ask your question again?
Here, the present participle phrase is working as an aftermath of the main clause. That is what I mentioned in the article too. If there is anything else you want to clarify, please ask.
Dear ashish this sentence is relative clause describes the whole clause before, we can reduce it to a participle
The government opened up the theatres, supermarkets, and beaches, giving everyone a reason to be happy about. Can we say ” which given a reason to be happy
As I said, these are different functions a present participle phrase performs. If anything, we should be happy about its diversity.
Present participles
Dear ashish why some present particilples result defining the noun he ,she i , where as sometimes whole clause something like ” which”
This is how they are used, Mahmet. They are capable of doing that, if used correctly.
Hi Ashish. In the sentence- “He started talking about the death of his child, leaving everyone in tears.”- how do we define the words “started” and “talking”, as per the parts of speech. I’m confused whether both are verbs, or one of them is adjective. Kindly explain.
‘Started’ is the main verb and ‘talking’ is the object of the verb (gerund). Here in the sentence, ‘talking about the death of his child’ is the gerund phrase (noun), working as the object of the verb.
Thank you, Ashish. I have understood.
I am glad you have.
Listening to his favorite songs, he finished editing the video
Hi Ashish, in the above sentence, the phrase “Listening to his favorite songs” acts as an adjective to the main clause (he finished editing the video) or adverb? If it is describing he, then it should be adjective. If its indicating how he finished editing, it would be adverb. i’m confused. Could you kindly clarify.
It is an adjective to the subject ‘he’, not the entire subject. It’s referring to his state of being while performing the main verb.
Hi Ashish, Thank you. I tried searching in the web about state of being adjective phrases. I couldn’t get any. Could u kindly help me and inform where can i get more info about these “state of being adjective phrases”. Thank you.
You won’t find any as they are not pre-determined. They are formed according to the need of the situation, which is subjective.
Motivating the class and giving them clarity about life, Ashish broke down. (modifying the noun ‘Ashish’)
Missing the college days, I called my friends. (modifying the verb ‘called’)
In the above 2 sentences, “Motivating the class and giving them clarity about life” is modifying noun Asish and “Missing the college days” modifies verb called not the pronoun I. Could you kindly clarify.
The post has explained the two examples in detail. I suggest you to go through the post again, more thoroughly this time. You can also watch the video embedded in the post.
Hi Ashish, I have watched ur 3 videos on present participle phrases. I cldnt get to see this section in it. Also, this post hasn’t mentioned more information than I have mentioned above in my query. could you kindly explain or else help me by giving links to any article or video. Thank you for reaching out to help us.
The car exploded into the house, hurting people sitting on the couch. ((modifying the main clause)
In the above sentence, what is “hurting people sitting on the couch”– adjective or adverb? Pls clarify. Thank you.
It is working as an adverb, modifying the main clause, working as an aftermath of the clause. It is an outcome of the main clause.
Thank you, Ashish. One more clarification in this regard is how to understand whether the phrase “hurting people sitting on the couch” is modifying the word exploded or the entire main clause (The car exploded into the house). If possible, could you answer in specific to this query and also explain the general principle. Thank you.
If the phrase specifically modifies the verb (works as a cause or something else), we would say that it is modifying the verb, but if the gives information about the entire clause, we would say that it is modifying the entire clause.
Dear teacher please excuse me i have a question
Sometimes present participles describing whole sentece when we know you said present participle’s actions always refers back to the subject of the main clause action but these sentence refers whole main clause.
E.g A farm tractor trolley carrying Hindu pilgrims has overturned and fallen into a pond in northern India, killing 26 people, including children, say local officials ⤵️
Mean = where they died 26 rather than refers back to a farm tractor
The present participle phrase ‘carrying Hindu pilgrims has overturned and fallen into a pond in northern India’ is referring to the noun ‘trolley’ (working as a noun), and the present participle phrase ‘killing 26 people, including children’ is modifying the entire clause, working as an aftermath of the situation (adverb).
What is the difference these two present participles sentences e.g she heard the news and she fainted.
E.g Hearing the news,she fainted.
He put on his coat and left the house.
E.g putting on his coat, he left the house.
E.g the thief saw the police man. he ran away.
E.g seeing the police man, the thief run away
That is a style of writing, Mahmet. Using participle phrases is a way to make writing more precise and effective.
I agree but sill i have some confuse and i will try
Thanks a lot your quick response. Please help this question? having + pp i knew we use perfect participles Please what kind of use perfect participle
E.g Having lived in London, I know its climate very well.
Having been a teacher for many years, I know how hard the job is.
2. Having seen the movie, she has decided it isn’t suitable for her children.
3. Having visited the island many times, they can get around it quite easily. Can i say
When i saw the movie…..
When they visited the island many times ……
most of their men almost married half the population of our girls , considering the fact that we produce the most beautiful women in Africa. Considering what is referring?please justify
Thank you for your helpful lesson ! I have a question would like to hear your answer from you .
Nobody likes to talk with the man sitting on the rock alone.
sitting on the rock alone –> Could it be considered as a REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSE ? Because it functions as a REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSE, it provides essential information and helps readers know more about ” the man ” sitting on the rock alone, not any others. Thanks in advanced !
You are welcome. To answer the question, yes; that is a reduced relative (adjective) clause. I have a detailed post on the same on the site, as well a video on the YouTube channel. Give it a read to learn more about it.
Hi Asish sir, after going through your articles on types of phrases and clauses, i could now understand all the above questions that i have asked, though it took some time to absorb these concepts thoroughly. Thank you for making your knowledge accessible to everyone.
Hello Amit,
I am glad the posts helped you get clarity. Stay connected and share the posts with others to help them.
Sure sir.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena asking him to immediately approve the proposal to send Delhi government teachers to Finland for training.
here “asking him ” modify Saxena or Manish sisodia…can you write this sentence without reduction of clause
Hello Raj,
It is not working as an adjective in the sentence; it’s working as an adverb. It tells us something about the verb ‘write’.
if it is working as adverb , there is necessarily need of comma ( punctuation) before present participle(asking).
The Madras High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by businessman, Ramesh Dugar, seeking a direction to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to return the documents and an iPhone that were seized from his residence in Chennai on August 5.
Can you also write this sentence without reducing adjetival, adverbial clause .. thanks in advance for this.
The Madras High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by businessman Ramesh Dugar in which he was seeking a direction from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to return the documents and an iPhone that were seized from his residence in Chennai on August 5.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Deputy CM have repeatedly attacked the L-G over his decision to return the Delhi government proposal, terming it an attack on Delhi’s education model.
i am gald if you explain the use of present participle phrase after main clause in this sentence
The participle phrase is doing the same here as well, modifying the entire clause in terms of giving clarity or information about it.
A lawyer from Chennai has approached the Madras High Court seeking action against Director Mani Ratnam for allegedly portraying the wrong history of
the Chola empire in his movie Ponniyin Selvan: I.
The above sentence taken from the hindu newspaper is grammatically right .
please write this sentence without reducing adjetival,adverbial clause
There is no forceful reduction done in the sentence. Changing the present participle phrase would be unnecessary and elementary.
Hi, Ashish Sir, would you please let us know how to identify particularly the adverbial participle phrases/clauses, how they modify the entire sentence of the main clause with sentences examples. How are they different from adjectival participle phrases? It is observed that many youtubers try to explain that participial phrases could be both adjectival or adverbial at
the same time depending on the manner an individual interprets them. Your response is eagerly awaited. Thanks.
Hi Sanaullah,
When a participle phrase functions as an adjective, it either comes at the beginning of a sentence (right before the noun it modifies) or comes right after the noun. When it comes before the noun, it comes at the beginning of a sentence and is offset using a comma after it; the noun it modifies sits next to it.
1. (Holding a gun in his hand), he asked us to give him our phones. (before the noun)
2. The man (looking at us) is the owner of the store. (after the noun)
As an adverb, it often indicates the reason for the action or shows the result or aftermath of a situation. Even when a participle phrase modifies a verb (works as an adverb), it still refers to a noun and works as an adjective too.
1. (Not knowing who the man was), Jon threw him out of the office. (identifies the noun ‘Jon’ and works as a reason why he did the action)
2. He got the company the biggest deal, (leaving everyone surprised). (identifies the pronoun ‘he’ and works as a result of the main clause)
When to use being+past participle after a noun or pronoun.
Eg.That being said
We will write a detailed post on it, soon.