Hi everyone! Dr. Nanhee Byrnes here. Today, I want to share one of my favorite writing tips that can truly elevate your TOEFL essay: the strategic use of participle phrases.
I've noticed that many students tend to connect ideas using the word "and." While this conjunction is perfectly fine when used occasionally, overusing "and" can make your writing sound repetitive, choppy, and lacking the grammatical sophistication needed for a high-scoring TOEFL essay. Today, I will show you how to upgrade your sentence structure using participle phrases.
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What is a Participle Phrase?
At its core, a participle phrase is a phrase headed by a participle. Now, what’s a participle? A participle is a special form of a verb that functions as an adjective. We have two main types:
Present Participles: These are verb forms ending in -ing (like studying, walking, eating).
Past Participles: These usually end in -ed for regular verbs or take an irregular form (like abandoned, covered, damaged, exhausted).
It’s absolutely crucial not to confuse a present participle with a gerund, even though they look the same since both end in "-ing." The key difference lies in their function:
A participle acts as an adjective, modifying a noun or pronoun.
A gerund acts as a noun, serving as a subject or object.
Consider the phrase eating an apple. It can function as either:
Participle: "Eating an apple, I walked into the kitchen." (Modifies "I")
Gerund: "I like eating an apple." ("Eating an apple" is the object of "like")
A participle phrase includes the participle and any words that complete its meaning, such as objects or modifiers. In "eating an apple," an apple is the object of the participle eating.
How to Make a Participle Phrase
How is a participle phrase actually formed? By eliminating repetitive words, conjunctions, and forms of the verb "be."
Original: "I walked, and I was eating an apple."
Improved: "Eating an apple, I walked."
Here, we removed "and," the repeated subject "I," and the auxiliary verb "was." This streamlined structure adds variety and polish to your writing.
You can also reduce relative clauses and subordinating clauses into participle phrases. For example:
Original: "The book which was lying on the table was mine."
→ Neat: "The book lying on the table was mine."Original: "The old house that was abandoned years ago is now being renovated."
→ Neat: "The old house, abandoned years ago, is now being renovated."
In these examples, the participle phrases give descriptive detail about the nouns they follow. When combining sentences, choose the one that gives descriptive detail for reduction.
Example:
Original: "The mountain was covered in snow. It loomed over the valley."
→ Neat: "The mountain, covered in snow, loomed over the valley."
Or: "Covered in snow, the mountain loomed over the valley."
Another:
Original: "The car sped down the road. It was battered and rusty."
→ Neat: "The car, battered and rusty, sped down the road."
Or: "Battered and rusty, the car sped down the road."
Explaining Cause and Effect with Participles
Participle phrases can also explain reasons or cause-effect relationships. In these cases, either clause can become the participle phrase, depending on which idea you want to emphasize.
Original: "The car was damaged in the accident, so it needed extensive repairs."
→ Focus on effect: "The car, damaged in the accident, needed extensive repairs."
→ Focus on cause: "The car was damaged in the accident, needing extensive repairs."
Tense of the Participle Phrase
Since participles originate from verbs, they imply timing. It’s important that the participle phrase aligns correctly with the main verb.
Use the simple present participle (-ing) when actions are simultaneous or when the participle leads into the main verb:
"Walking to class, I noticed the new sign."
"Knowing the material well, she felt confident for the exam."
Use the perfect participle (having + past participle) when the action occurs before the main verb:
"Having finished her research, she began writing her thesis."
Incorrect: "Reading the entire book, he then opened the test."
→ Implies he was reading while opening.
Correct: "Having read the entire book, he then opened the test."
Common Pitfalls: Dangling Participles
Participle phrases must clearly refer to the subject of the sentence. If not, they "dangle" and create confusion.
Examples:
"Walking down the street, a large dog attacked me."
→ Implies the dog was walking.
Fixed: "Walking down the street, I was attacked by a large dog.""After sitting in the refrigerator for two weeks, I decided to throw the leftovers away."
→ Implies I was sitting in the fridge.
Fixed: "After sitting in the refrigerator for two weeks, the leftovers were thrown away.""Born in a small town, his childhood was very happy."
→ Implies the childhood was born.
Fixed: "Born in a small town, he had a happy childhood."
Golden rule: When a participle phrase comes before the main clause, the subject of the main clause must be the doer of the participle action.
Using Commas with Participle Phrases
To decide whether or not to use commas with participle phrases, you need to ask two questions:
Where is the participle phrase located in the sentence?
Is the information it provides essential or non-essential?
✅ 1. Comma After Introductory Participle Phrases
When a participle phrase comes at the beginning of a sentence and modifies the subject of the main clause, it must be followed by a comma.
Why?
This comma separates the introductory phrase from the main idea and helps avoid confusion.
Correct:
Running quickly, he reached the finish line.
(“Running quickly” describes “he” and comes before the main clause, so we use a comma.)Worried about the results, she checked her email every five minutes.
✅ 2. Comma for Non-Essential (Non-Restrictive) Participle Phrases
When the participle phrase gives extra or descriptive information that is not essential to identifying the noun, we place commas around the phrase.
This applies when the noun is already clearly known.
Correct:
John, wearing a blue shirt, ran after the bus.
Why? We already know who John is. The detail “wearing a blue shirt” is just extra—it helps us picture him, but it’s not necessary to identify him. So we set it off with commas.
Another Example:
The dog, barking loudly, scared the mailman.
(We already know which dog. The barking is just a detail.)
❌ 3. No Comma for Essential (Restrictive) Participle Phrases
When the participle phrase helps identify which person or thing you're talking about, then it’s essential to the meaning of the sentence, and no commas are used.
Correct:
The boy wearing a blue shirt is my boyfriend.
Why? There may be multiple boys. The phrase “wearing a blue shirt” tells us which boy we mean. That’s important, so we don’t separate it with commas.