Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.

vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause

Participle Clause

Read this guide to find out what participle clauses are and how we use them, including
plenty of examples.

Download FREE teacher-made resources covering

View FREE Resources
'Participle Clause'

What is a Participle Clause?

Participle clauses are formed by using either the present participle (verbs using the
suffix -ing), past participles (the past tense of a verb), or perfect participles (the perfect
form of a verb).

We can use a participle clause when the participle and the verb in the main clause have
the same subject. Here's an example:

• Feeling tired, I had a nap.

The subject of 'feeling tired' and 'I had' is the same, so we can use a participle clause.

These types of clauses don't have a specific tense. The tense is decided by the tense of
the verb of the main clause.

When do we use a Participle Clause?

Participle clauses are most often used in written texts, such as fiction, rather than in
our day-to-day speech. They add more detail and meaning to the sentence, which is
useful for written texts. They also tend to be perceived as formal, which is why they
aren't used in spoken language as often as they are in written texts.

With the above example, we're much more likely to say 'I was feeling tired, so I had a
nap' when speaking out loud. You're more likely to see the participle clause example in
a story, for instance. Despite this, it's still important to learn how to structure a
participle clause and how we can use them in writing.

When writing fiction, using a participle clause can help to add variety to your sentences
and make things more exciting for the reader. They can add emphasis to the sentence.

1 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause
- Twinkl

Examples of Participle Clauses

To help you understand participle clauses even further, here are some examples of
each type of participle clause, in the present, past and perfect tenses.

Each type of participle clause explains something different about the rest of the
sentence.

Present Participle Clauses

Present participle clauses have a similar meaning to active verbs.

Gives the reason for an action.

• Realising she'd forgotten her homework, she quickly ran back home.

Gives the result of an action.

• The runner sprinted across the finish line, leaving his competition in the
dust.

Explains an action that happened at the same time as another action.

• Handing back the map, I admitted we were lost.

Adds information about the subject of the main clause.

• Twinkl makes lots of useful resources, helping those who teach.

Past Participle Clauses

Past participle clauses usually have a passive meaning.

With a similar meaning to 'if'.

• Watered the right amount, plants can grow big and tall. (with past participle
clause)

2 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause
• If you water them the right amount, plants can grow big and tall. (used with
'if')

Gives the reason for an action.

• Frightened by the noise, she turned on the light.

Gives information about the subject of the main clause.

• Mentored by her father, she was an expert at chess.

Perfect Participle Clauses

The use of the perfect tense in a participle clause shows that the action described in
the participle clause is finished before the action in the main clause.

• Having settled her nerves, she walked onto the stage.

• Having eaten already, he declined the food.

• Having bought their tickets in advance, they headed straight into the
cinema.

A f t e r C o n j u n c t i o n s a n d P re p o s i t i o n s

Participle clauses, especially those that use '-ing', often come after conjunctions and
prepositions. The most common ones we use are:

• before;

• after;

• instead of;

• on;

• since;

• while;

• when;

• in spite of.

Here are some examples of how to use these conjunctions and prepositions before a
participle clause:

• Before exercising, you should do a warm-up.

• After searching for an hour, I found my glasses.

• Instead of washing up by hand, just use the dishwasher.

• On arriving at the library, she went to return her books.

• Since reading the novel, he had felt inspired to write for himself.

• While learning a new language, it's important to practise speaking and

3 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause
listening, as well as reading and writing.

• When going to the beach, you should always remember to wear sun cream.

• In spite of hearing his warning, she went ahead with it anyway.

P a r t i c i p l e C l a u s e s w i t h a D i f fe re n t S u b j e c t

In some exceptional cases, a participle clause can have a different subject from the
one that's in the main clause. This is used when the verb has one of the following verbs,
plus an object:

• feel, find, hear, listen to, notice, see, smell, and hear

Here is an example:

• Do you know of anyone learning Spanish at the moment?

'You' is the subject of the main clause; however, 'anyone' is the subject of the participle
clause.

Par t ici pl e Cl aus es Re placi ng a Re lat i ve C lause

A present participle clause can replace a relative clause used in the active voice.

• The girl, who was in the library, was doing her homework. → The girl in the
library was doing her homework.

A past participle clause can replace a relative clause used in the passive voice.

• We've eaten all the cookies that we baked this morning. → We've eaten all
the cookies we baked this morning.

How do you teach Participle Clauses?

The best way to teach participle clauses is to give pupils the chance to practise,
practise, and practise some more.

You could get your pupils to practise writing participle clauses in a range of different
ways. You could ask them to write a story or write a set of instructions, such as for a
recipe or directions to a holiday spot. Both of these activities give them lots of
opportunities to form participle clauses.

For example, they could begin a story with a participle clause:

• Exhausted by her day at work, the girl decided to take a shortcut through
the woods.

In a set of instructions, they could write something like this:

• Having gathered all your ingredients, begin by weighing 200 grams of flour.

These could even be translated into speaking exercises. A pupil can say the beginning
of the story (using a participle clause), and then the next pupil has to carry on where
they left off. They should try to use the participle clauses when talking.

4 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause

A helpful video about Participle Clauses

Teach difficult concepts with ease, with the help of our weekly newsletter...

example@example.com I'm in

5 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause

6 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023

Participle Clauses | Twinkl Teaching Wiki - Twinkl https://www.twinkl.com.vn/teaching-wiki/participle-clause

7 trong 7 8:30 SA 09/09/2023