THE PARTICIPIAL PHRASE
The participle has been defined by grammarians as a verbal adjective.
They do not mean that it limits or qualifies the meaning of a noun as
an adjective does. Very few participles do that. They mean only that it
is brought into the sentence for the purpose of telling something about
some noun. It is not usually so close a modifier of the noun, either
in relation or position, as many other noun adjuncts are; often it is
so loosely joined to its noun as to seem almost like a parenthetical
element. When the noun it modifies is the subject of the sentence, then
the great importance of the participle as a sentence-element lies in
the fact that it is a convenient means of avoiding a predication.
=Participial Forms.=--The participial forms of the transitive verb are
six.
_Active_--Seeing, having seen.
_Active progressive_--Having been seeing.
_Passive_--Being seen, seen, having been seen.
The participles of the intransitive verb are four.
_Common form_--Going, gone, having gone.
_Progressive_--Having been going.
NOTE.--We frequently meet these combinations of words: _being gone_,
_having been gone_. They are not passive participles of the verb _go_,
for they do not denote action received any more than do the phrases
_being sick_ and _having been sick_. The word _gone_ is a participle
used as an adjective complement of the participles _being_ and
_having been_, just as the word _sick_ is used. This is a very common
construction, seen in such familiar sentences as the following,--He
_is risen_, the tree _is fallen_, the coat _is_ badly _worn_, you _are
mistaken_, the meat _is done_. In all these instances the participles
denote a condition of the subject, and are therefore complements of
the verb.
The most common use of the simple participial forms, like _seeing_
and _seen_, is to help form progressive verb-phrases and passive
verb-phrases; thus, _is seeing_, _shall be seeing_, _might have been
seeing_; _is seen_, _shall be seen_, _might have been seen_. These
phrases are not to be separated into their constituent parts, however,
but are to be treated as single verbs, hence we are not concerned with
the participles they contain.
* * * * *
=Uses of the Participle.=--1. The participial adjective.--The one use
of the participle which is almost identical with that of the adjective
is seen in such expressions as _running_ water, _trotting_ horse,
_educated_ man, _spoiled_ child. Here the idea Of action is not so
prominent as that of quality. Some of these participles have become so
far like adjectives as to admit of comparison; for example, _striking_
in such an expression as _striking appearance_, or _deceiving_ in
_deceiving story_. Some of them, too, may be modified by _very_, which
is never a verb modifier; as, _loving_ in _very loving children_.
This participle is sometimes used substantively; thus, “The _loving_
are the _daring_.” “The _slain_ were left to die.” Of course such
a word as _people_ is understood after these participles, and in
analyzing these sentences it may be supplied if one so desires, but
it is no more necessary than it is in the sentences,--“The _good_ are
happy, the _righteous_ are blessed,” where a qualifying adjective is
used as a noun.
2. The participial phrase as a substitute for a proposition.--We come
now to those frequent and important uses of the participle where
it saves a predication. It usually has other words associated with
it, either as complement or modifiers, the whole group forming a
participial phrase.
(_a_) The participial phrase may take the place of an adjective clause;
as, “The use of the cartridges _complained of_ was discontinued
by orders issued in January 1857.”--_McCarthy._ The participle is
here equivalent to a restrictive adjective clause pointing out the
particular cartridges.
Just as often the participial phrase is equivalent to an unrestrictive
clause, and then it is very much like an appositive modifier; as, “The
first person I met was a poor old woman, _a little bowed down with age,
gathering grapes into a large basket_.”--_Longfellow._
(_b_) The participial phrase may take the place of an adverbial
clause; as, “And, _having once tasted a life like this_, he could no
more return to what he had left behind him.”--_Boyesen._ Here the
participial phrase tells us _why_ he could no more return to what
he had left behind him. If this idea were differently expressed, we
should have either a prepositional phrase modifying the predicate or
an adverbial clause of cause introduced by _since_. But all this does
not make the phrase a grammatical adjunct of the predicate. Instead it
is an adjunct of the subject _he_. If it were expanded into a clause,
the subject _he_ would have to be supplied and the phrase would become
a predicate. Now, as predicate it would tell something about the
subject _he_; and it does not cease to do this when it is changed to a
participial phrase.
In the following sentence from Geikie,--“_Entering the polluted Temple
space, and gazing round on the tumult and manifold defilement_, He
could not remain impassive,” the phrase is plainly equivalent in
meaning to an adverbial clause, telling _when_ (and in some degree
_why_) he could not remain impassive. But grammatically the phrase is
an adjunct of the subject _He_.
Lest it should not be perfectly clear to the reader what particular
relation the participial phrase is intended to denote, the author
often indicates the relation by the same conjunction that he would
use to introduce an adverbial clause; as, “But we must above all
other things take into account, _when considering the position of
the Hindoo_ _Sepoy_, the influence of the tremendous institution of
caste.”--_McCarthy._ Without _when_ the reader’s first thought would be
that the phrase denotes cause.
In this sentence from Cooper,--“But the vessels of which we write,
_though constructed at so remote a period_, would have done credit to
the improvements of our own time,” the concessive phrase might have
been interpreted as causal, if _though_ had not been inserted.
In this sentence from Hamlin Garland,--“Each soul was solemn, _as if
facing the Maker of the world_,” the fact that the phrase denotes
manner is made evident by the conjunction _as if_. Any conjunction used
like _when_, _though_, _as if_ in the sentences quoted, may be said to
introduce the participial phrase and to indicate its relation.
NOTE.--In all such sentences as the above, where the participial
phrase is introduced by a subordinating conjunction, it is perfectly
proper, before analyzing, to supply the words necessary to make the
participial phrase into an adverbial clause. It is more satisfactory,
indeed, to do this except in a few cases where such an expansion gives
a verb that does not harmonize in tense or form of conjugation with
the verb in the principal proposition; for example, “Though holding
no office and steadily refusing an election to the Storthing, he has
been the life and soul of the liberal party.”--_Boyesen._ Here the
concord of tenses would call for _has held_ and _has refused_ in the
concessive clause instead of the progressive verb-phrases _has been
holding_ and _has been refusing_.
(_c_) The absolute phrase as a substitute for a _dependent_
proposition.--In all the preceding examples the substitution of a
participial phrase for a clause was made easy by the fact that the
subject of the clause was the same as the subject of the principal
proposition. When the subject is not the same, the clause is condensed
into what has been termed an _absolute phrase_; as, “Nature, _her
patience with him being ended_, leaves him desolate.”--_Carlyle._
The absolute phrase consists essentially of a substantive and a
participle, having to each other the logical relation of subject and
predicate. In the sentence quoted the phrase is equivalent to the
adverbial clause of cause, _because her patience with him is ended_.
The absolute phrase is usually said to be grammatically independent,
but it is so frequently used as to be a regular English construction
now, and as such may be said to modify the predicate of the principal
proposition.
Notice that it is not a _participial_ phrase that modifies the
predicate; it is an _absolute_ phrase. The participial phrase is only
one of the two equal parts of the absolute phrase; it can hardly be
said to modify the noun, which is the other part, but it stands side by
side with the noun to make an absolute phrase.
The absolute phrase denotes other relations than that of cause. The
most common are concession and time; as, “Was Oliver Cromwell, _his
bitterest enemies themselves being judges_, destitute of private
virtues?”--_Macaulay._ “_Night coming on_, they broke the bolts of the
Town gates.”--_Carlyle._
(_d_) The chief use of the absolute phrase is to take the place of
an independent proposition; thus, “A child of three sat up in his
crib and screamed at the top of his voice, _his fists clinched_ and
_his eyes full of terror_.”--_Kipling._ Here the absolute phrases
have no relation of time, cause, concession, etc., to the principal
proposition, hence are not modifiers. If expanded into propositions
these phrases would only add coördinate thoughts to the first
one--“_His fists were clinched_,” and “_his eyes_ _were full of
terror_.” It is best to call such phrases accompaniments of the
predicate instead of modifiers.
NOTE.--From the sentence just quoted we learn that the absolute phrase
does not always contain a participle; it may consist of a substantive
and an adjective, as in _his eyes full of terror_. We also find
absolute phrases in which a prepositional phrase takes the place of
the participle; as, “He left my side, _a summer bloom on his fair
cheeks_, a smile parting his innocent lips.”--_Miss Mitford._
It is even possible to make an absolute phrase of two substantives as,
“Hargreaves and Arkwright, _both Englishmen_, invented and improved
spinning and weaving machinery.”
It would be proper to supply the participle _being_ before either the
adjective, the prepositional phrase, or the noun, but it is best to
dispose of constructions just as we find them.
A construction parallel to the absolute phrase is found in the
sentence, “Half way up the hill he met Bagheera _with the morning dew
shining like moonstones on his coat_.”--_Kipling._ Here the object of
the preposition _with_ is the whole group of words following it, and
of this group the base-words are the noun _dew_ and the participle
_shining_, which have the logical relation of subject and predicate.
This is a very common construction after the prepositions _with_ and
_without_.
3. The participial phrase often takes the place not of a whole
proposition but only of a predicate; for example, “Westward on the
banks of the Thames, the towers of Westminster Abbey stand _guarding
the ashes of England’s greatest men_.” The meaning here is, the
towers stand _and_ guard; but by means of the participle one of these
predicates is subordinated to the other. The participial phrase is not
so much a complement of the verb _stand_ as an accompaniment of it; at
the same time it tells an attribute of the subject.
A construction seemingly like the one just given, but in reality
different, is found after verbs of _going_ or _coming_. These verbs may
be followed by participles which tell not an accompanying action, but
how the going or coming is accomplished; as, “Sometimes a wandering
leaf came _floating and wavering downward_, and settled on the
water.”--_Longfellow._ This does not mean that the leaf came _and_
floated _and_ wavered, but only that it floated and wavered, and these
actions were the means of its coming. Such a participle is truly a
modifier of the verb.
4. The participle as part of a double object.--After a few verbs like
_keep_, _find_, _see_, _hear_, _feel_, _have_, we find the participle
taking the place of the infinitive in a double object. The participle
is almost always chosen when a passive construction is needed; as, “The
saddle fell to earth, and he heard _it trampled_ under-foot by his
pursuer.”--_Irving._ When the active construction is called for, the
advantage of the participle over the infinitive is that it gives the
idea of longer continuance of the action; as, “Just then he heard _the
black steed panting_ and _blowing_ close behind him.”--_Irving._
The expression _kept me waiting_ is grammatically equivalent to _made
me wait_.
5. There are two constructions of the participle that are quite
different from any of those cited, being deviations from its ordinary
use.
(_a_) The participle used adverbially to denote degree; thus, _boiling_
hot, _stinging_ cold, _dripping_ wet. Here the participles unmistakably
modify adjectives.
(_b_) The participle used independently; thus, “_Speaking of those
yellow squash-bugs_, I think I disheartened them by covering the
plants so deep with soot and wood-ashes that they could not find
them.”--_Warner._ This participial phrase corresponds to the infinitive
phrase used independently, though it is more rarely met.
Exercise 25
Dispose of all participles or participial phrases in the following
sentences.
1. He was noted for his success in capturing Spanish ships freighted
with silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru.
2. They came and went restlessly, sitting down and knocking their
steel scabbards against the tables, or rising and straddling off with
their long swords kicking against their legs.--_Howells._
3. The girths of the saddle gave way and he felt it slipping from
under him.--_Irving._
4. The populations of India became stricken with alarm as they saw
their native princes thus successively dethroned.--_McCarthy._
5. She was dressed to please her own fancy, evidently, with small
regard to the modes declared correct by the Rockland milliners and
mantua-makers.--_Holmes._
6. Knowing that I have no right to speak here, I ask your
leave.--_Kipling._
7. Livingstone taught himself Latin grammar while working at the loom.
8. These three guineas deducted, I still had nine, or
thereabouts.--_De Quincey._
9. Speaking in quite unofficial language, what is the net purpose and
upshot of war?--_Carlyle._
10. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole.--_Dickens._
11. Thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the
ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land,
hollow land, or Holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the
all-accomplished Roman.--_Motley._
12. The writing is a kind of pugilism--the strokes being made straight
out from the shoulder.--_Howells._
13. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four
tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the
cave where they all lived.--_Kipling._
14. The schoolmaster now bestowed both whip and heel upon the
starveling ribs of old Gunpowder, who dashed forward, snuffling and
snorting.--_Irving._
15. At last he heard them entering the defile.
16. Five lakes are spread over the valley, occupying one tenth of its
surface.--_Prescott._
17. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy hissing hot.--_Dickens._
18. The river was swollen with the long rains.--_Stevenson._
19. Farms, stripped of their fences and deserted by their owners, had
for years produced only weeds.--_Greeley._
20. Granting the horse, granting good companionship, granting a good
seat, and a pleasant day, a horseback ride certainly does unite all
the requisites for healthful exercise.--_Hale._
21. I have sometimes been puzzled in Venice to know why churches
should keep cats, church-mice being proverbially so poor and so little
capable of sustaining a cat in good condition.--_Howells._
22. Her heavy black hair lay in a braided coil, with a long gold pin
shot through it like a javelin.--_Holmes._
23. Thirty years ago, Last Island lay steeped in the enormous light of
even such magical days.--_Hearn._
24. The tower had just been vacated by the garrison, who, hearing
of the approach of the Austrians, had fled, leaving their arms,
consisting of thirty excellent muskets.
25. And then again a thousand echoes go booming along the iron-bound
coast.--_Black._
26. You see it growing gradually less dense.--_Tyndall._
27. Touching the Giant’s Stairs in the court of the palace, the
inexecrable dates would not permit me to rest in the delusion that
the head of Marin Falier had once bloodily stained them as it rolled
to the ground.--_Howells._
28. The air was biting and smelled of frost.--_Stevenson._
29. The wind, roaring round its broad verandas, hissing through every
crevice with the sound and force of steam, appeared to waste its
rage.--_Hearn._
30. Away then they dashed, through thick and thin, stones flying and
sparks flashing at every bound.--_Irving._
31. Lying down on the grass, I spoke in my soul to the earth, the sun,
the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight.--_Jefferies._
32. Daffodils perished like criminals in their condemned caps without
their petals ever seeing daylight.--_Holmes._
33. They advanced singing and shouting their war cries, briskly
charging the enemy, as rapidly retreating and making use of
ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla
warfare.--_Prescott._
34. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study,
lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone forever.
35. But today being Saturday rather complicates matters.--_Conan
Doyle._