Participle Clause

1. What does it look like?

1.1. You use the -ed or ing form of the verb

1.2. Present Participle: verb + -ing

1.2.1. Example: Being a student, he can get a discount on rail travel.

1.3. Past Participle form of the verb (regular verb = +ed, irregular verb = the third column of the irregular verbs list

1.3.1. Example: Ignored by other children, the young boy decided to play with his toys instead.

1.4. Perfect Participle: having + past participle of the verb

1.4.1. Example: Having failed the test twice in a row, I decided to cram for weeks as I didn't want to fail the test again.

2. How to use it?

2.1. Present Participle: cause and effect, description of the subject of the main clause, two simultaneous events with the same subject, one event happening during another (see Whiteboard for examples)

2.2. Past Participle: has a passive meaning

2.2.1. Can express cause, description and condition (see Whiteboard for examples)

2.3. Perfect Participle active (having + -ed/irregular verb form of past participle): to show that the event in the perfect participle clause happened first (see Whiteboard for example)

2.3.1. Perfect Participle passive (having been + -ed/irregular verb form of past participle): to show the action in the perfect participle clause happened before the action in the main clause (see Whiteboard for example)

3. What is it?

3.1. Gives more information about a noun.

3.2. It doesn't have a subject as the subject is the noun/pronoun of the main part of the sentence.

3.2.1. Example: Written in 1961, 'Catch-22' is a novel about a young American solider, John Yossarian.

4. Why is it useful?

4.1. Enables writers to put lots of information into one single sentence.