Participial Phrases Examples

A participle is a verb that is functioning as an adjective. Participles can be in the present tense form or in the past tense form. A present participle ends in -ing and a past participle ends in -ed (unless the verb is irregular).

Washing machine

Washed shirt

Drinking water

Known amount (know is an irregular verb)

A participial phrase is a participle and all of the modifiers that go with it. A participial phrase always functions as an adjective in the sentence. Words that function as participles also function as verbs and sometimes as gerund phrases, so you cannot just assume that every -ing word or -ed word is a participle. You must make sure that the word is functioning as an adjective in the sentence.

Examples of Participle phrases

The girl sitting in front of me
The dog lying on the carpet
The pizza eaten last night
Cat locked inside the crate

Examples of Participial Phrases in Sentences

Walking into the classroom, Mr. Pass immediately asked us if we could open our books to page 6.

The children taking the ballet class had fun practicing their leaps by pretending they were jumping over a flower garden.

At the zoo, I enjoyed watching the monkey eating the banana.

Can you hand me the hair brush sitting on that table over there?

Who is that boy looking at me from across the room?

The person running around the track so early in the morning is training for a race next month.

Swimming toward the edge of the pool, Mark wanted to climb out and dive back in.

Breathing heavily, I was proud of how hard I had worked at the gym.

The flower blooming pink and red is a geranium, and it is one of my favorite kind.