As multiword modifiers, participial phrases enjoy flexibility in positioning themselves in a sentence. However, they do their job best when placed as near as possible to the noun or pronoun they are meant to modify: “
Tired after a long day’s work, the mechanic fell asleep in the bus.” They work equally well as interrupters in a sentence: “The mechanic
, tired after a long day’s work, fell asleep in the bus.” Either way, the sentence functions without a hitch because “tired after a long day’s work” is positioned right beside the noun “mechanic.”
Take note though that when placed at end-sentence, that same participial phrase won’t work properly: “The mechanic fell asleep in the bus
, tired after a long day’s work.” This time, that participial phrase becomes a dangler, absurdly modifying the noun “bus.”
But in some instances a participial phrase can take an end-sentence position without dangling: “The policemen found the suspect
shopping at the mall.” (Here, “shopping at the mall” modifies the noun “suspect,” not “policemen.”) “The lawyers glared at the witness
, shocked by her self-incriminating testimony.” (Here, “shocked by her self-incriminating testimony” modifies “lawyers,” not “witness.”)
We should be cautious with such end-sentence placements, however. In the second construction above, in particular, the participial phrase “shocked by her self-incriminating testimony” would have dangled if the pronoun “the” was used instead: “The lawyers glared at the witness, shocked by
the self-incriminating testimony.” With “the” instead of “her,” we won’t know whether it was the witness or the lawyers who got shocked by the testimony! This is because it so happens that the pronoun “her” is crucial to establishing “lawyers” as the subject being modified by that participial phrase: “The lawyers glared at the witness, shocked by
her self-incriminating testimony.”
From a structural standpoint, we need to observe three general rules when to set off a participial phrase with commas: (1) when it’s positioned at the beginning of a sentence, (2) when it interrupts a sentence as a nonessential modifier, and (3) when it’s positioned at the end of a sentence and is separated from the word it modifies.
To correctly apply Rules 2 and 3, we need to clearly distinguish between
nonessential modifiers and
essential modifiers. Recall that the former are those whose removal won’t profoundly alter the meaning of a sentence, while the latter are those whose removal will alter that meaning.
For instance, the participial phrases in the following two sentences need to be set off by commas for the constructions to make sense: “The cause-oriented groups
, spoiling for a showdown with the government, held a massive protest rally.” “Alicia threw a tantrum
, angered by the late arrival of her date.” As proof that the participial phrases in the two sentences are nonessential, we can safely drop each of them without seriously altering the meaning of the sentence.
In contrast, no commas are needed for the essential participial phrases in these two sentences: “A motorist
driving with an expired driver’s license faces a heavy fine.” “The necklace
bought by the society matron from a respectable jeweler turned out to have fake diamonds.” Dropping the participial phrase profoundly changes the sense of each of them: “A motorist [...] faces a heavy fine.” “The necklace [...] turned out to have fake diamonds.”
Finally, be aware that certain expressions derived from such participles as “considering,” “concerning,” “granting,” “speaking,” and “judging” can validly modify a clause even if that clause doesn’t have a doer of the action conveyed by the participial phrase. Just two examples: “
Considering the bad weather, the open-air concert needs to be canceled.” “
Judging by first appearances, she shouldn’t even be considered in cosmetics sales.”
Through long usage, such actor-less participial phrases have come to be clearly understood to do their modifying job without dangling.
(Next week:
Getting to know the absolute phrase better) June 2, 2022
This essay, 2100th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the May 26, 2022 Internet edition of The Manila Times
, ©2022 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay online in
The Manila Times:
The flexible positioning of participial phrasesVisit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
