252 PartUI I SentenceStructure

1.A restrictiveparticipialphrasecanonlyfollowthenounit modifiesanddoesnothave

commas.

ParticipialPhrases

A pedestrianhitbya speedingtaxi

waslyinginthestreet.

Anambulancesummonedbya

bystandercamequickly.

Thetaxidriver,notrealizingwhathad

happened,continuedon.

AdjectiveClauses

A pedestrianwhohadbeenhitbya

speedingtaxiwaslyinginthestreet.

Anambulancethatwassummoned

byabystandercamequickly.

Thetaxidriver,whodidnotrealize

whathadhappened,continuedon.

3. Sometimesa participialphrasemodifiesanentireindependentclause.Inthis
   case,it followstheclauseandrequiresa comma.

Theteamwonthechampionship,shockingtheiropponents.

CAUTION!Whenyoubegina sentencewitha participialphrase,makecertainthat

thephrasemodifiesthesubjectofthesentence.Ifit doesnot,yoursentenceis incorrect.

HopingforanA,myexamgradedisappointedme.

(TheparticipialphraseHopingforanAcannotmodifymyexamgrade.A gradecan-

nothope.)

~

HopingforanA,I wasdisappointedinmyexamgrade.

2. A nonrestrictiveparticipialphrasecanprecedeorfollowthenounit modifiesand
   isseparatedbya commaorcommasfromtherestofthesentence.

Ter~Urryingtocatchabus(i)stumbledandfell.

~

Hurryingtocatchabus(i)Teresastumbledandfell.

~

A womanhurryingtocatchabustrippedandfell.

Participialphrases,likeadjectiveclauses,canberestrictive(necessary)ornonrestric-

tive(unnecessary).Iftheoriginalclauseisnonrestrictive,thephraseisnonrestrictive

also.Anonrestrictivephraseisseparatedfromtherestofthesentencebycommas.

Restrictivephrasesusenocommas.

Thepositionofa participialphraseina sentencedependsonwhetherit is restrictive

ornonrestrictive,orwhetherit modifiesanentireclause.

Youcanreducea subjectpatternadjectiveclauseasfollows.

1.Deletetherelativepronoun(who,which,orthat).

2. Changetheverbtoa participle.
   3.Keepthesamepunctuation(commasornocommas).
   4.Putthewordnotatthebeginningofa participialphrasetomakeitnegative.

Participialphrasescanbeformedbyreducingadjectiveclausesandadverb

clauses.Forthisreason,theyaresometimescalledreducedclauses.

NONRESTRICTIVE

PositionandPunctuationofParticipialPhrases

RESTRICTIVE

INCORRECT

CORRECT

ReducedAdjectiveClauses