of telling something about some person or thing, still it does not always
go with the noun that names that person or thing. In the sentence, “The
children stood watching them out of the town,” the participial phrase
_watching them out of the town_ tells something about the _children_, but
it is not a direct modifier of the noun _children_, for it belongs in
the predicate of the sentence. It does not modify the verb _stood_, for
it does not tell how the standing was done. It really takes the place of
a second predicate, _watched them out of the town_, but participles are
not asserting words, hence we cannot call this phrase a predicate. The
best way to tell about it is this: The verb _stood_ is accompanied by
the participial phrase _watching them out of the town_, which denotes an
action taking place at the same time as the standing.
Tell about the participial phrases in these sentences:—
Fred entered the house _calling as usual for his mother_.
The Indians advanced, _shouting their war cries_.
She gazed forward, _shading her eyes with both hands_.
NOTE.—Sometimes the participle is used adverbially to modify a
verb; as in the sentence, “The children went scampering off to
the woods.” This sentence does not mean that the children went
_and_ scampered. They only scampered, and the scampering was
what made them go. Since the participial phrase tells just how
the children did the going, it must be a modifier of the verb
_went_.
What is the difference between the sentence just given and
the following?—“The children went singing to the woods.” It
is plain that not every verb can be modified by a participle.
Usually only a verb meaning _come_ or _go_ may be so modified.
=354.= In Lesson LV it was shown that the past participle is often used
as a subjective complement; as, “This dress is _soiled_,” “My money is
_spent_.”
=355.= In a few idiomatic expressions the participle is used adverbially
to modify an adjective; as, _freezing_ cold, _steaming_ hot, _hopping_
mad, _dripping_ wet. Here the participle tells how cold, how hot, etc.,
and thus denotes degree.
=356.= Sometimes the noun that a participle modifies is omitted, and the
participle is said to be used as a noun; as, “The loving are the daring,”
which means that loving persons are daring persons. We also speak of the
_killed_ and _wounded_.
=Summary.=—The participle or the participial phrase may be a part of the
predicate in three ways.
(1) It may be an accompaniment of the verb.
(2) It may be a subjective complement of the verb.
(3) It may be a modifier of a few verbs, denoting the way in which an
action was performed.
The participle may be used adverbially to modify an adjective and thus
denote the degree of some quality.
The participle may be used as a noun.
=Exercise.=—Explain the use of all participles and participial phrases.
Classify the participles.
1. The little mare gave me all the sympathy I could ask,
repeatedly rubbing her soft nose over my face, and lapping up
my salt tears with evident relish.
2.
Three fishers went sailing out into the west,
Out into the west as the sun went down.
3. The warriors of the king were little pleased to hear such
talk from his lips.
4. After her conference with the superintendent, this
undignified young schoolmistress went dancing and skipping home
to tell her mother of her promotion.
5. The sun shining on the rippling water made it so dazzling
bright that we were almost blinded.
6.
Little white Lily sat by a stone,
Drooping and waiting till the sun shone.
7. On my first day in Tangiers the spectacle was bewildering,
and only by concentrating my attention on detached groups could
I form any distinct impression of it.
8. Then Rustum made his way to the bazaar, taking his camel
drivers with him.
9. After licking his lips and polishing his whiskers, the lynx
went loping off through the woods with the limp body of the
mink in his jaws, to eat it at leisure in his lair.
10. In October the woods were a blaze of color,—clear gold,
flaming scarlet, crimson, amber, and coppery brown.
11.
I watch him as he skims along,
Uttering his sweet and mournful cry.
12. Society may be divided into two classes—the bores and the
bored.
13.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rock, the prize we sought is won.
14. Three kings came riding from far away.
15. One day as the king sat drinking in one of the chambers of
his palace, and boasting after his custom, a genius, disguised
as a minstrel, desired to be admitted to the royal presence.
16. The underfed dogs snapped and growled in the passages,
glaring at the cold stars, and snuffing into the bitter wind,
night after night.
17. Drops of nightly dews trickle down to the seeds, moistening
the dryness, closing up the little hollows of the ground,
drawing the particles of maternal earth more closely.
18. The barley and the rye are garnered and gone, the landscape
is bare and deserted.
19. The air was stinging cold and felt like ice upon the boy’s
bare, hot throat.
20. Her heart overflowed with sympathy for all the weary, the
beaten, the oppressed.
Explain the use of the infinitive phrases in sentences 3, 4, 7, 9, 15.
XCI. ABSOLUTE PARTICIPIAL PHRASES
=357.= In the sentence, “When the snow had left the lawns bare, the
crocuses appeared,” we have an adverbial clause. What is it? What does it
denote? Such a clause is frequently condensed into a group of words like
this, _the snow having left the lawns bare_. In this group there are two
parts,—the noun element _the snow_, which was subject of the clause, and
the participial phrase _having left the lawns bare_, which is made out of
the predicate of the clause. It is clear then that the two parts of this
group of words have the logical, though not the grammatical, relation of
subject and predicate.
Such a group of words is called an =absolute phrase=.
=358.= The absolute phrase is generally spoken of by grammarians as an
independent element; that is, it is not a modifier of any part of the
sentence.
=359.= Occasionally, as in the example given, the absolute phrase is an
abridgment of an adverbial clause of time. Oftener it is used instead of
a clause of cause, as in the sentence, “_The drought having lasted so
long_, the foliage began to turn yellow.”
=360.= Sometimes an absolute phrase is used instead of an independent
clause, thus changing a compound sentence to a simple sentence; as, “The
crew escaped from the ship in three boats, _only two reaching Siberia_.”
What clause would you make out of the absolute phrase here? By what
conjunction would you join it to the first independent proposition?
=361.= The noun or the pronoun that is the base word of the noun element
in an absolute phrase is said to be in the =nominative case=, used
=absolutely=.
=Summary.=—An =absolute phrase= is a group of words used independently
and consisting of a noun or a pronoun and a participle, having to each
other the logical relation of subject and predicate.
An absolute phrase is an abridgment of an adverbial clause or an
independent clause.
=Exercise.=—Select all the absolute phrases. Separate them into their two
parts. Expand them into adverbial clauses or independent clauses.
1. His feet were clad in half slippers of red leather, the toes
being pointed and turned upward.
2. She had paused in reverie, her hands clasped behind her head.
3. Jack telling his condition, the giant bade him welcome.
4. Grandma and Norman were sitting on the floor in front of the
ice box, the child having manifested a peculiar desire for cold
boiled potato.
5. From a balcony above leaned the lovely Ermengarde, her
golden tresses crowned with a nightcap of rare and curious
design.
6. The Frey home was made up of cheery workers, even little
Dorothea having her daily self-assumed tasks.
7. The laws of that country being very severe against slaves,
Androcles was sentenced to be torn in pieces by a furious lion.
8. Through wild and desolate scenes, by forests, rocks, and
waterfalls, we pass, the little locomotive always puffing and
pushing vigorously behind us.
9. Mowgli had been looking from one to the other of his
friends, his chest heaving and his eyes full of tears.
10. These eggs being sold, Jack and his mother got plenty of
money.
11. Everywhere, scattered about the country, we have seen
windmills, their great arms moving slowly around.
12. Under Rebecca’s delicately etched brows her eyes glowed
like two stars; their dancing lights half hidden in lustrous
darkness.
13. The eagerness of Barnum to obtain a white elephant is
easily understood, that animal being considered by showmen the
greatest attraction in the country.
XCII. AGREEMENT OF PARTICIPLES. OTHER WORDS IN -ING
=362.= A sentence containing a participial phrase should be so
constructed that there is no doubt as to what noun or pronoun the phrase
modifies.
In the sentence, “I had a fine view of your new hospital coming in on
the train this morning,” the participial phrase seems by its position to
modify the noun _hospital_; but it really modifies the pronoun _I_, and
hence should be placed at the beginning of the sentence. If the phrase is
expanded into an adverbial clause of time, it may remain where it is.
=363.= In the sentence, “_Opening the door_, my lamp went out,” the
participial phrase has nothing to modify.
This is called a =dangling= or a =floating participle=. The best way to
deal with such a sentence is to expand the participial phrase into an
adverbial clause,—“When I opened the door.”
=Exercise.=—Point out the error in each of these sentences. Reconstruct
each sentence.
1. We never once thought of the baby, rushing out of doors to
see the fire.
2. I heard the whistles plainly, sailing across the bay.
3. I met your sister coming home from my music lesson.
4. Mother saw the flames first sitting on the veranda.
5. Entering the hall, her foot slipped on the waxed floor and
she fell.
6. Putting two and two together, it is quite plain that he
wants an appointment.
7. Knitting mittens and piecing quilts, I think Grandmother is
very happy.
8. Having been recently painted, Mr. Graham did not recognize
his own house.
9. Grasping the rope and plunging into the surf, the huge
receding wave carried him out almost to the wreck.
=364.= We have seen that certain participles are in form precisely like
infinitives in _-ing_, and can be distinguished from them only by their
use. The participle is used like an adjective, and the infinitive in
_-ing_ is used like a noun.
Take, for instance, the word _running_ in the following sentences:—
Water _running_ down hill acquires great force.
_Running_ races is a small boy’s pastime.
_Running_ water is clear.
I shall never forget the _running_ of that race.
In the first sentence it is clear that _running_ is a participle, because
the participial phrase _running down hill_ modifies the noun _water_ and
is, therefore, used like an adjective.
In the second sentence it is equally clear that _running_ is an
infinitive, for the infinitive phrase _running races_ is subject of the
sentence and is therefore used like a noun.
In the third sentence _running_ is a participle, because it is derived
from a verb and cannot be compared. (See § 352.) In other respects it
resembles a pure descriptive adjective. In the phrase “an interesting
book” _interesting_ is a pure adjective; it can be compared.
In the fourth sentence _running_ is an infinitive in _-ing_. It is
modified by an article and is used, like a noun, as the object of the
verb.
In the sentences, “It is a wise _saying_,” “Take my _blessing_,” _saying_
and _blessing_ are pure nouns without verbal force, as is shown by the
fact that they have plural forms.
=Exercise 1.=—Classify the _-ing_ words in the following sentences as
infinitives, participles, adjectives, or nouns:—
1. The half back was cheered by the admiring crowd.
2. The time of the singing of birds is come.
3. I distinctly said that I wanted a singing bird.
4. Singing hymns was her favorite diversion.
5. Painting high buildings is a dangerous occupation.
6. The old lady painting in the Louvre was an excellent copyist.
7. Mr. Morgan paid a large sum for this small painting.
8. The child was pleased with the painting book.
9. A setting hen looks very placid.
10. They should have been arrested for setting fire to the old
house.
11. I will ask the photographer when he can give you a sitting.
12. The child sitting on the curbing said sweetly, “Hello, old
lady.”
13. The smiling days are not always the friendliest.
14. “I am better,” said Agnes, smiling brightly.
15. A short saying oft contains much wisdom.
16. Ever charming, ever new, when will the landscape tire the
view?
17. Health is a blessing that money cannot buy.
18. Another duty the robin took upon himself,—to assist me in
seeing that every bird in the room had his daily outing.
19. Turning a canary out into the world is about like turning a
two-year old baby out to get its own living.
20. We require from buildings as from men two kinds of
goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well; then that
they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.
=Exercise 2.=—Explain the use of each verbal in the following sentences.
Analyze sentences 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21.
1. The garret is a fine place to sit of an afternoon and hear
the rain pattering on the roof.
2. To be called to the principal’s office filled the stoutest
heart with alarm.
3.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea.
4. The old German carpenter packed Mrs. Howe’s heavy furniture
in an empty store beneath her apartment, and when she refused
to pay him an exorbitant sum, he locked the door on her and her
boxes and went off to find a policeman.
5. I had views of many interesting scenes in this family of
crows, supposed by the wary parents to be visible only to the
cows stolidly feeding on the hillside.
6. The chickens seemed to be well cared for by the women; but
the men appeared to be the laziest of mortals.
7. Let us stand on the long iron bridge that spans the St.
Lawrence just above Montreal, the very place to study the river
as it narrows and runs swifter for its smashing plunge through
yonder rapids to the east,—the dreaded Lachine Rapids, whose
snarling teeth flash white in the sun.
8. To keep Jim from following the regiment or from staying and
getting lost in search of it, the wagoner had tied him to the
rear axle of his wagon with a strong twine.
9. The engine mounted the curve faster and faster, roaring
through a tunnel, growling over a bridge, and snarling at a
paling alongside, but no glimpse of the runaway locomotive
could the pursuers get.
10. Daddy felt, like the midshipman, sadly perplexed when
the dog was finally missing, but he could suggest no mode of
revenge which was not too dangerous for them to put in practice.
11. The thought of my shortcomings in this life falls like a
shadow on my life to come.
12. Launching majestically from the edge of the nest, the great
eagle had swooped down into the cold shadow, and then, rising
into the light by a splendid spiral, he had taken a survey of
the empty, glimmering world.
13. Our terrier was never known to spend a night away from home.
14. It is inexplicable to me that any bird should be either so
unobservant as not to recognize a foreign egg at sight, or so
easy-tempered as not to insist on straightway being rid of it.
15. It is easier to do what you please than to do what you
ought.
16. The blue-white moon of midwinter, sharply glittering like
an icicle, hung high in a heaven clear as tempered steel.
17. Sometimes the fox resorts to numerous devices to mislead
and escape the dog altogether,—walking in the bed of a small
creek, running along a rail fence, or leaping into a hollow
stump.
18. The elephants simply moved their legs mechanically up
and down, and swung their trunks to and fro; but they were
determined not to pull or exert the slightest power, neither
did they move forward a single inch.
19. The only way to mitigate the hard lot of a canary is to
make him so happy that he will not wish to be free.
20. The best part of a journey is getting home again.
21. Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to penetrate the vast
regions west of the Mississippi.
22. While the old turkey perched upon a tree top to keep an eye
on the enemy, the brood went sailing over the trees toward home.
23. The officers ordered the crape to be instantly cut off from
the dogs’ legs.
XCIII. SUMMARY OF PARTICIPLES
=365.=
I. DEFINITION.—A participle is a verbal adjective.
II. FORMS.—
1. Of =intransitive verbs=.
_Present_, going.
_Past_, gone.
_Perfect_, having gone, having been going.
2. Of =transitive verbs=.
_Present_, seeing, being seen.
_Past_, seen.
_Perfect_, having seen, having been seeing, having been
seen.
III. USES.
1. To form the =perfect tenses=, the =passive voice=, and the
=progressive conjugation=.
I have trusted you.
You were trusted by me.
I am trusting you.
2. As an =adjective modifier= of a noun or a pronoun.
(a) _Restrictive._
Barking dogs seldom bite.
The picture painted by Leonardo da Vinci was stolen.
(b) _Unrestrictive._
(1) Used in place of an adjective clause.
The silver moon, shining in the rosy eastern sky,
must have looked upon the setting sun.
(2) Used in place of a clause of time or cause.
Having built a magnificent church, we had to have
a magnificent organ.
3. As =subjective complement of a verb=.
Christ is risen.
Everybody is gone.
4. As an =accompaniment of a verb=.
Then the blind girl came nearer, reaching out her hands
toward my face.
5. As part of an =absolute phrase=.
The roast turkey having received due attention, the boys
were ready for mince pie.
IV. MODIFIERS AND COMPLEMENTS.
Participles have the same modifiers and complements as verbs.
Having earned the money, I spent it.
Growing tired, we walked slower.
Calling me a coward, he went on.
Turning sharply to the right, he struck the tree.
V. AGREEMENT.
1. The construction of a sentence should leave no doubt as to
what word a participial phrase modifies.
2. Dangling participles should be avoided.
Make two good sentences to illustrate each use of the participle.
XCIV. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES
=366.= A participial phrase is analyzed very much like an infinitive
phrase. First the participle should be given as the base, then its
complement and modifiers.
MODEL.—_Behind each islet of tall reeds is a fishing boat held fast by
two poles stuck in the bottom of the river._
This is a simple, declarative sentence. The subject is _a fishing boat
held fast by two poles stuck in the bottom of the river_. The predicate
is _is behind each islet of tall reeds_.
The base word of the subject is _boat_. It is modified by the infinitive
_fishing_, the article _a_, and the participial phrase _held fast by two
poles stuck in the bottom of the river_.
The base word of this phrase is the participle _held_. It is modified
by the adverb _fast_ and by the prepositional phrase _by two poles
stuck in the bottom of the river_. The base word of the object of the
preposition _by_ is the noun _poles_. It is modified by the adjective
_two_ and the participial phrase _stuck in the bottom of the river_. The
base word of this phrase is the participle _stuck_. It is modified by the
prepositional phrase _in the bottom of the river_, etc.
=367.= A sentence containing an absolute phrase should be analyzed as
follows:—
MODEL.—_Amy having gone to Vermont, the lady was lonely._
This is a simple, declarative sentence containing the absolute phrase
_Amy having gone to Vermont_, which is used instead of the adverbial
clause of cause, _since Amy had gone to Vermont_.
The subject is _the lady_. The predicate is _was lonely_, etc.
The absolute phrase consists of the noun _Amy_ and the participial phrase
_having gone to Vermont_, which have the logical relation of subject and
predicate. The base of the participial phrase is the participle _having
gone_, etc.
=Exercise.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
1. In one store I would find a catbird moping on a high shelf
or in a dark back room; in another a bluebird scared half to
death, and dumb in the midst of squawking parrots and singing
canaries.
2. In that first battle, Jim ran barking after the very first
shell that came screaming over our heads.
3. The island is supplied with the best water imaginable, small
streams leaping down from the sides of the hills and running
through every valley.
4. The biting cold wind that shrunk our faces and pinched our
noses blue only brought a wild-rose bloom to mother’s delicate
cheeks.
5. The doings of the people thus suddenly become his neighbors,
Bobby studied with all a bird’s curiosity.
6. Coming out into the road on my way home again, I fell in
with an old friend.
7. The soldiers were miserably clad, and asked whether we had
shoes to sell.
8. It is difficult to describe the left-half’s agony as he
picked himself up and went limping back to his place.
9. At daylight, directly ahead of us was the island of Juan
Fernandez, rising like a deep blue cloud out of the sea.
10. Long ears twinkling, round eyes softly shining, the rabbits
leaped lightly hither and thither, pausing every now and then
to touch each other with their sensitive noses, or to pound on
the snow with their strong hind legs in mock challenge.
11. In long, graceful leaps, barely touching the fence, the fox
went careering up the hill as fleet as the wind.
12. Joel’s long legs began to ache, and seemed stiffening at
the thighs and knees.
13. After their supper of milk and oatmeal porridge, the
children sat down, waiting and watching, and fancying they
heard sounds in the hills.
14. Hearing loud cries of distress coming from the lawn, the
gardener rushed across and found the crow lying on his back,
his claw tightly gripping the end of one of the wings of a
large hawk.
15. We soon found the vireo’s nest, suspended within the angle
of two horizontal twigs, and trimmed outwardly with some kind
of white silky substance.
16. He lay like a warrior taking his rest.
17. For four miles the pilot must race along a squirming,
twisting, plunging thread of water, that leaps ahead like a
greyhound, and changes its crookedness somewhat from day to day
with wind and tide.
18. For centuries the trees had developed strength to resist
the winds when they were clad in all their leaves, or to carry
the load of those leaves weighted with raindrops, or to bear
the winter snows; but they had no strength that would enable
them to be coated thick with ice and then wrenched by angry
blasts.
19. The servants having gone to their cabins, the great house
was filled with the quiet of a Sunday afternoon.
XCV. ANTICIPATIVE SUBJECT
=368.= We have learned that the pronoun _it_ may be used as an
anticipative subject to throw the real subject after the predicate. This
real subject may be a noun clause or an infinitive phrase.
It will never be known whether the lady came out of that door
or the tiger.
It is a mistake to suppose that the fox cannot be tamed.
=369.= We must not conclude that the word _it_ at the beginning of
a sentence is always an anticipative subject. Sometimes it is the
real subject, that is, it is a neuter personal pronoun having for its
antecedent some term perfectly understood by both speaker and listener;
as, “Have you read ‘The Call of the Wild’? _It_ is the story of a dog
that reverted.”
=370.= Sometimes _it_ is used for subject with no special word for
antecedent; as when we say, “It was blowing great guns.” (See § 252.)
=371.= In the familiar expression, “It is time to get up,” the antecedent
of _it_ is the word _now_ or the term _the present moment_.
=372.= _It_ is not the only word used as anticipative subject. Another
word is _there_; as in the sentence, “There is snow on the top of Pike’s
Peak.” If we ask the question, _What is on the top of Pike’s Peak?_ the
sensible answer is not _there_, but _snow_, hence _snow_ is the subject.
The word _there_ does not denote place, hence it is not an adverb. It is
used merely to fill a gap in a declarative sentence in which the subject
has been placed after the verb, for if the gap were not filled and the
sentence began with a verb, it would seem to be interrogative. When so
used the word _there_ is called an =expletive=, which means a word used
to fill up a gap.
=373.= Of course _there_ at the beginning of a sentence is not always an
expletive. Sometimes it is an adverb denoting place; as, “There will I
build me a nest.”