Participles: B. Present Participles as Adjectives

B.  The Present Participle as an Adjective. 

1.  A present participle is used as an adjective to modify nouns:

a)  The stinging rebuke silenced the rowdy students.

b)  A rolling stone gathers no moss.

c)  Bring the milk to barely a rolling boil.

d)  Being a teacher, I note the use of ‘whom’ on the radio.

e)  Throwing a hay-maker punch, the big man knocked him down.

NOTES:
1.  Verbals, even when being used as nouns or adjectives, retain their ability to be modified by adverbs  or by adverb phrases (stunned by disbelief) or to take their own objects (Throwing a hay-maker punch) or subjective complements (Being a teacher).

2.  Dangling or Unattached Participles are not allowed.  This rule applies in all grades, but it is taught formally, and enforced by deducted marks and grades, in and from Grade 8 on.

3.  We value economy of words, but parsimony of words may beggar the meaning.  Making the decision to use a phrase or a clause based on the need for variety or for emphasis or for rhythm, is on the Grade 9+ curriculum.

4.  The absolute phrase

b)  Having stepped from the room, the teacher listened to hear if the students still studied.  This participial phrase modifies the subject.  If you re-arrange this sentence, the need for the comma is lost because the adjective phrase properly follows the noun that it modifies: The teacher having stepped from the room listened to hear if the students still studied. However, many people think of this phrase as parenthetical and set it off with commas accordingly: The teacher, having stepped from the room, listened to hear if the students still studied.

b)  The teacher having stepped from the room, the students left off their studies.  This absolute phrase is considered to be modifying the whole main clause.

c)  Having risen meanwhile, the moon cast pools of light and shadow about the scene.  ‘Meanwhile’ modifies ‘rise’ rather than ‘cast’.  The ‘meanwhile’ draws our attention to something else that was happening at the same time; so this is obviously a sentence taken out of context.

c)  The moon having risen meanwhile, the cats were anxious to go out hunting.