Participle clauses

Participle clauses are used to make our writing and speaking more economical, efficient and, sometimes,
more elegant. They can also be used to add information about reason, condition and result.

past participles
Past participle clauses have a passive meaning. Use past participles to add extra information. They
sometimes serve the same purpose as adjectives (describing a noun).

Loved by everyone, Don was a wonderful character. (describes Don)

Exhausted from her efforts, she struggled on. (describes ‘she’)

present participles
present participle clauses have an active meaning. Use present participles (-ing form):

 As reduced relative clauses. Here the present participle serves the same purpose as an adjective.

The woman who is smiling in the photo is my grandmother. → The woman smiling in the photo is my
grandmother.

I smelt the bread that was burning. → I smelt the burning bread.

 As adverbial clauses (like adverbs): expressing manner, condition, cause, result, etc. This is
especially common in formal or literally texts. To make the negative, use not before the present
participle.

Moving silently, the lion follows its prey.

Lying face down in the sand, he looked like some strange sea beast.

Not being qualified, she couldn’t work there.

There was a fire, resulting in serious damage.

Having + past participle

Having + past participle is used:

 To show the cause of a second action.

Having won every competition, he decided to retire.

 To show a sequence of actions.

Having made breakfast, she sat down and read the paper.