We can use participles to combine two sentences. Note that this technique is used when both clauses have the same subject.
Study the example given below.
- She ran out of the room. She was screaming.
We can rewrite this sentence as:
- She ran out of the room screaming.
Another example is given below:
- I lost all my money. I went home.
- Having lost all my money, I went home.
Exercise
Fill in the blanks with an appropriate participle.
1............... by his family, he decided to become a monk.
Wrong!
Use the past participle "Rejected" because the subject received the action.
2Who is that pretty girl ............... in the corner?
Wrong!
Use the present participle "sitting" to describe what the girl is doing now.
3Most of the people ............... to the party didn’t turn up.
Wrong!
Use the past participle "invited" because the people received the invitation.
4Not ............... what to do, I called the police.
Wrong!
Use "knowing" after "not" to make the participle phrase "Not knowing".
5He was sitting at a table ............... with papers.
Wrong!
Use the past participle "covered" because the table had papers on it.
6Who is that girl ............... with your brother?
Wrong!
Use the present participle "dancing" to describe what the girl is doing.
7............... much blood, she became unconscious.
Wrong!
Use the perfect participle "Having lost" to show the blood loss happened before she became unconscious.
8............... my engineering exams, I took up cheating.
Wrong!
Use the perfect participle "Having failed" to show the exam failure happened before the later action.
Answers
- Rejected by his family, he decided to become a monk.
- Who is that pretty girl sitting in the corner?
- Most of the people invited to the party didn’t turn up.
- Not knowing what to do, I called the police.
- He was sitting at a table covered with papers.
- Who is that girl dancing with your brother?
- Having lost much blood, she became unconscious.
- Having failed my engineering exams, I took up cheating.
