Below are explanations for the two Participle Phrase Samples:

Participle Phrases from The Brothers Karamazov

It came to pass that, settling permanently in Paris he, too, forgot the child, especially when the Revolution of February broke out, making an impression on his mind that he remembered all the rest of his life.

As the interactive exercise instructs, the first step is to highlight any words that could be a participle phrase:

It came to pass that, settling permanently in Paris he, too, forgot the child, especially when the Revolution of February broke out, making an impression on his mind that he remembered all the rest of his life.

There appears to be two participle phrases in this sentence:

1. SETTLING: adverbial present participle - modifies the sentence - can move or delete
2. MAKING AN IMPRESSION: adverbial present participle - modifies the sentence - can delete

Challenge Sample from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

When Dorothy was standing in the doorway, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun has been burning the tops of the long blades for decades, until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.

Again, the first step is to highlight any words that might be a participle phrase:

When Dorothy was standing in the doorway, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun has been burning the tops of the long blades for decades, until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.

For this sample, there appears to be two participle phrases in this passage:

1. PLOWED: adjectival past participle - modifies LAND - KEY MARKER: appears between a definite article and a noun
2. RUNNING: adjectival present participle - follows immediately after and modifies CRACKS

Tips to Keep in Mind

The KEY MARKER for identifying participle phrases is the participle inflections ([-ing] and [-en] or [-ed]). But, again, you must analyze in context. In the second sentence above, there are other words that look like particple phrases: STANDING (part of a main verb phrase - not a participle phrase); NOTHING (this is not a participle inflection); BAKED (part of a main verb phrase - not a participle phrase); BEEN and BURNING (part of a main verb phrase - not participle phrases); SEEN (part of an infinitive phrase - not a participle phrase). Like all phrases, a participle phrase will be adjectival if it follows immediately after a noun. Adverbial participle phrases will most often appear at the beginning or end of a clause and provide extra information about time or place, but the key tests for determining if participle phrases are adverbial are always movement and deletion.

If you have questions about these sample analyses, please contact your instructor or start a conversation in your work group.