352. The participle may be associated with a noun in several ways.

(1) The participle may modify a noun precisely like an adjective, as when we say boiling water, pleading eyes, revolving turret, educated men, hammered brass, plowed land, dried apples.

The participle in this use can be distinguished from a real adjective in two ways:—(a) it comes from a verb, (b) it cannot be compared.

Apply these two tests to the seven participles just given.

Some participles have become real adjectives, as loving, learned, striking (in striking appearance), annoying, exciting. Any one of these adjectives may be compared.

(2) The participle or participial phrase may take the place of an adjective clause. Sometimes it is used instead of a restrictive clause, thus pointing out a particular thing or class of things; as, “The men shoveling coal on the docks were prostrated by the heat.” Sometimes the participial phrase takes the place of an unrestrictive clause, thus adding a new thought to the sentence; as, “Here comes a turbaned negress, balancing a basket of lemons on her head.”

In both the sentences just given the participial phrase comes after the noun it modifies, thus taking in the sentence the same position as the appositive adjective.

The restrictive participial phrase is not set off by a comma. The unrestrictive participial phrase is set off by a comma.

(3) The participial phrase may take the place of a clause of time or cause, and yet modify a noun, as in the following sentences:—

Those pens, having been given to me by my dear master, were never put to any common uses.

Having said these words, Beowulf plunged into the water and disappeared among the dark waves.

In the first sentence, change the phrase to a clause of cause. What noun does the phrase modify?

In the second sentence, what does the participial phrase modify? What can you say of its position? Change it to a clause of time.

Note that although the participial phrase may take the place of a clause of time or cause, it is still an adjective element; for, as shown in the sentences just studied, such a participial phrase may modify a noun.

Summary.—The participle may be used alone to modify a noun precisely like an adjective.

The participial phrase may modify a noun, taking the place of a clause.

The participial phrase sometimes comes before, and sometimes after, the noun it modifies.

A participial phrase is set off by a comma when it is unrestrictive, whether it follows or precedes the word it modifies.

Exercise.—Explain the use of all the participial phrases. Classify the participles. Account for the punctuation.

1.

The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast.

2. Being direct descendants of Adam and Eve, we had much of their inquiring turn of mind.

3. Worms are elongated, soft-bodied animals, differing greatly in form and habits.

4. The books bound in red morocco belonged to my mother, and the “Iliad” illustrated by Flaxman was one of my father’s treasures.

5. The Temple School was a two-story brick building, standing in the center of a great square piece of land, surrounded by a high picket fence.

6.

Then [comes] the whining schoolboy with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.

7. That tree toad squatting on the trellis and peering down at us reminds me of the gargoyles on the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

8. The boys looked like a legion of imps, coming and going in the twilight, busy in raising some infernal edifice.

9. At last, finding himself hungry and weary, and seeing that there were herds of wild asses in the plain which he was traversing, Rustum thought that he would catch one of them for his meal, and rest for the night.

10. It is only he who is weary of life that throws himself in the way of a roaring lion.

11. Like most things connected in their first associations with schoolbooks and schooltimes, the Leaning Tower of Pisa seemed much too small.

12. In the morning it was raining, with little prospect of fair weather, but having expected nothing better, we set out on foot for the Causeway.

13. In this tavern the visitor may derive good entertainment from real Genoese dishes,—sausages, strong of garlic, sliced and eaten with fresh green figs; cocks’ combs and sheep kidneys, chopped up with mutton chops and liver; small pieces of some unknown part of a calf, twisted into small shreds, fried, and served up in a great dish; and other curiosities of that kind.

14. Having supposed the Giant’s Causeway to be of great height, I was somewhat disappointed at first for I found the Loom, which is the highest part of it, to be but fifty feet from the water.