CHAPTER XXI

THE PARTICIPIAL PHRASE

The participle has been defined by grammarians as a verbal adjective. They do not mean that it limits or qualifies the meaning of a noun as an adjective does. Very few participles do that. They mean only that it is brought into the sentence for the purpose of telling something about some noun. It is not usually so close a modifier of the noun, either in relation or position, as many other noun adjuncts are; often it is so loosely joined to its noun as to seem almost like a parenthetical element. When the noun it modifies is the subject of the sentence, then the great importance of the participle as a sentence-element lies in the fact that it is a convenient means of avoiding a predication.

=Participial Forms.=--The participial forms of the transitive verb are six.

_Active_--Seeing, having seen. _Active progressive_--Having been seeing. _Passive_--Being seen, seen, having been seen.

The participles of the intransitive verb are four.

_Common form_--Going, gone, having gone. _Progressive_--Having been going.

NOTE.--We frequently meet these combinations of words: _being gone_, _having been gone_. They are not passive participles of the verb _go_, for they do not denote action received any more than do the phrases _being sick_ and _having been sick_. The word _gone_ is a participle used as an adjective complement of the participles _being_ and _having been_, just as the word _sick_ is used. This is a very common construction, seen in such familiar sentences as the following,--He _is risen_, the tree _is fallen_, the coat _is_ badly _worn_, you _are mistaken_, the meat _is done_. In all these instances the participles denote a condition of the subject, and are therefore complements of the verb.

The most common use of the simple participial forms, like _seeing_ and _seen_, is to help form progressive verb-phrases and passive verb-phrases; thus, _is seeing_, _shall be seeing_, _might have been seeing_; _is seen_, _shall be seen_, _might have been seen_. These phrases are not to be separated into their constituent parts, however, but are to be treated as single verbs, hence we are not concerned with the participles they contain.

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=Uses of the Participle.=--1. The participial adjective.--The one use of the participle which is almost identical with that of the adjective is seen in such expressions as _running_ water, _trotting_ horse, _educated_ man, _spoiled_ child. Here the idea Of action is not so prominent as that of quality. Some of these participles have become so far like adjectives as to admit of comparison; for example, _striking_ in such an expression as _striking appearance_, or _deceiving_ in _deceiving story_. Some of them, too, may be modified by _very_, which is never a verb modifier; as, _loving_ in _very loving children_.

This participle is sometimes used substantively; thus, “The _loving_ are the _daring_.” “The _slain_ were left to die.” Of course such a word as _people_ is understood after these participles, and in analyzing these sentences it may be supplied if one so desires, but it is no more necessary than it is in the sentences,--“The _good_ are happy, the _righteous_ are blessed,” where a qualifying adjective is used as a noun.

2. The participial phrase as a substitute for a proposition.--We come now to those frequent and important uses of the participle where it saves a predication. It usually has other words associated with it, either as complement or modifiers, the whole group forming a participial phrase.

(_a_) The participial phrase may take the place of an adjective clause; as, “The use of the cartridges _complained of_ was discontinued by orders issued in January 1857.”--_McCarthy._ The participle is here equivalent to a restrictive adjective clause pointing out the particular cartridges.

Just as often the participial phrase is equivalent to an unrestrictive clause, and then it is very much like an appositive modifier; as, “The first person I met was a poor old woman, _a little bowed down with age, gathering grapes into a large basket_.”--_Longfellow._

(_b_) The participial phrase may take the place of an adverbial clause; as, “And, _having once tasted a life like this_, he could no more return to what he had left behind him.”--_Boyesen._ Here the participial phrase tells us _why_ he could no more return to what he had left behind him. If this idea were differently expressed, we should have either a prepositional phrase modifying the predicate or an adverbial clause of cause introduced by _since_. But all this does not make the phrase a grammatical adjunct of the predicate. Instead it is an adjunct of the subject _he_. If it were expanded into a clause, the subject _he_ would have to be supplied and the phrase would become a predicate. Now, as predicate it would tell something about the subject _he_; and it does not cease to do this when it is changed to a participial phrase.

In the following sentence from Geikie,--“_Entering the polluted Temple space, and gazing round on the tumult and manifold defilement_, He could not remain impassive,” the phrase is plainly equivalent in meaning to an adverbial clause, telling _when_ (and in some degree _why_) he could not remain impassive. But grammatically the phrase is an adjunct of the subject _He_.

Lest it should not be perfectly clear to the reader what particular relation the participial phrase is intended to denote, the author often indicates the relation by the same conjunction that he would use to introduce an adverbial clause; as, “But we must above all other things take into account, _when considering the position of the Hindoo_ _Sepoy_, the influence of the tremendous institution of caste.”--_McCarthy._ Without _when_ the reader’s first thought would be that the phrase denotes cause.

In this sentence from Cooper,--“But the vessels of which we write, _though constructed at so remote a period_, would have done credit to the improvements of our own time,” the concessive phrase might have been interpreted as causal, if _though_ had not been inserted.

In this sentence from Hamlin Garland,--“Each soul was solemn, _as if facing the Maker of the world_,” the fact that the phrase denotes manner is made evident by the conjunction _as if_. Any conjunction used like _when_, _though_, _as if_ in the sentences quoted, may be said to introduce the participial phrase and to indicate its relation.

NOTE.--In all such sentences as the above, where the participial phrase is introduced by a subordinating conjunction, it is perfectly proper, before analyzing, to supply the words necessary to make the participial phrase into an adverbial clause. It is more satisfactory, indeed, to do this except in a few cases where such an expansion gives a verb that does not harmonize in tense or form of conjugation with the verb in the principal proposition; for example, “Though holding no office and steadily refusing an election to the Storthing, he has been the life and soul of the liberal party.”--_Boyesen._ Here the concord of tenses would call for _has held_ and _has refused_ in the concessive clause instead of the progressive verb-phrases _has been holding_ and _has been refusing_.

(_c_) The absolute phrase as a substitute for a _dependent_ proposition.--In all the preceding examples the substitution of a participial phrase for a clause was made easy by the fact that the subject of the clause was the same as the subject of the principal proposition. When the subject is not the same, the clause is condensed into what has been termed an _absolute phrase_; as, “Nature, _her patience with him being ended_, leaves him desolate.”--_Carlyle._

The absolute phrase consists essentially of a substantive and a participle, having to each other the logical relation of subject and predicate. In the sentence quoted the phrase is equivalent to the adverbial clause of cause, _because her patience with him is ended_. The absolute phrase is usually said to be grammatically independent, but it is so frequently used as to be a regular English construction now, and as such may be said to modify the predicate of the principal proposition.

Notice that it is not a _participial_ phrase that modifies the predicate; it is an _absolute_ phrase. The participial phrase is only one of the two equal parts of the absolute phrase; it can hardly be said to modify the noun, which is the other part, but it stands side by side with the noun to make an absolute phrase.

The absolute phrase denotes other relations than that of cause. The most common are concession and time; as, “Was Oliver Cromwell, _his bitterest enemies themselves being judges_, destitute of private virtues?”--_Macaulay._ “_Night coming on_, they broke the bolts of the Town gates.”--_Carlyle._

(_d_) The chief use of the absolute phrase is to take the place of an independent proposition; thus, “A child of three sat up in his crib and screamed at the top of his voice, _his fists clinched_ and _his eyes full of terror_.”--_Kipling._ Here the absolute phrases have no relation of time, cause, concession, etc., to the principal proposition, hence are not modifiers. If expanded into propositions these phrases would only add coördinate thoughts to the first one--“_His fists were clinched_,” and “_his eyes_ _were full of terror_.” It is best to call such phrases accompaniments of the predicate instead of modifiers.

NOTE.--From the sentence just quoted we learn that the absolute phrase does not always contain a participle; it may consist of a substantive and an adjective, as in _his eyes full of terror_. We also find absolute phrases in which a prepositional phrase takes the place of the participle; as, “He left my side, _a summer bloom on his fair cheeks_, a smile parting his innocent lips.”--_Miss Mitford._

It is even possible to make an absolute phrase of two substantives as, “Hargreaves and Arkwright, _both Englishmen_, invented and improved spinning and weaving machinery.”

It would be proper to supply the participle _being_ before either the adjective, the prepositional phrase, or the noun, but it is best to dispose of constructions just as we find them.

A construction parallel to the absolute phrase is found in the sentence, “Half way up the hill he met Bagheera _with the morning dew shining like moonstones on his coat_.”--_Kipling._ Here the object of the preposition _with_ is the whole group of words following it, and of this group the base-words are the noun _dew_ and the participle _shining_, which have the logical relation of subject and predicate. This is a very common construction after the prepositions _with_ and _without_.

3. The participial phrase often takes the place not of a whole proposition but only of a predicate; for example, “Westward on the banks of the Thames, the towers of Westminster Abbey stand _guarding the ashes of England’s greatest men_.” The meaning here is, the towers stand _and_ guard; but by means of the participle one of these predicates is subordinated to the other. The participial phrase is not so much a complement of the verb _stand_ as an accompaniment of it; at the same time it tells an attribute of the subject.

A construction seemingly like the one just given, but in reality different, is found after verbs of _going_ or _coming_. These verbs may be followed by participles which tell not an accompanying action, but how the going or coming is accomplished; as, “Sometimes a wandering leaf came _floating and wavering downward_, and settled on the water.”--_Longfellow._ This does not mean that the leaf came _and_ floated _and_ wavered, but only that it floated and wavered, and these actions were the means of its coming. Such a participle is truly a modifier of the verb.

4. The participle as part of a double object.--After a few verbs like _keep_, _find_, _see_, _hear_, _feel_, _have_, we find the participle taking the place of the infinitive in a double object. The participle is almost always chosen when a passive construction is needed; as, “The saddle fell to earth, and he heard _it trampled_ under-foot by his pursuer.”--_Irving._ When the active construction is called for, the advantage of the participle over the infinitive is that it gives the idea of longer continuance of the action; as, “Just then he heard _the black steed panting_ and _blowing_ close behind him.”--_Irving._

The expression _kept me waiting_ is grammatically equivalent to _made me wait_.

5. There are two constructions of the participle that are quite different from any of those cited, being deviations from its ordinary use.

(_a_) The participle used adverbially to denote degree; thus, _boiling_ hot, _stinging_ cold, _dripping_ wet. Here the participles unmistakably modify adjectives.

(_b_) The participle used independently; thus, “_Speaking of those yellow squash-bugs_, I think I disheartened them by covering the plants so deep with soot and wood-ashes that they could not find them.”--_Warner._ This participial phrase corresponds to the infinitive phrase used independently, though it is more rarely met.

Exercise 25

Dispose of all participles or participial phrases in the following sentences.

1. He was noted for his success in capturing Spanish ships freighted with silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru.

2. They came and went restlessly, sitting down and knocking their steel scabbards against the tables, or rising and straddling off with their long swords kicking against their legs.--_Howells._

3. The girths of the saddle gave way and he felt it slipping from under him.--_Irving._

4. The populations of India became stricken with alarm as they saw their native princes thus successively dethroned.--_McCarthy._

5. She was dressed to please her own fancy, evidently, with small regard to the modes declared correct by the Rockland milliners and mantua-makers.--_Holmes._

6. Knowing that I have no right to speak here, I ask your leave.--_Kipling._

7. Livingstone taught himself Latin grammar while working at the loom.

8. These three guineas deducted, I still had nine, or thereabouts.--_De Quincey._

9. Speaking in quite unofficial language, what is the net purpose and upshot of war?--_Carlyle._

10. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole.--_Dickens._

11. Thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or Holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished Roman.--_Motley._

12. The writing is a kind of pugilism--the strokes being made straight out from the shoulder.--_Howells._

13. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived.--_Kipling._

14. The schoolmaster now bestowed both whip and heel upon the starveling ribs of old Gunpowder, who dashed forward, snuffling and snorting.--_Irving._

15. At last he heard them entering the defile.

16. Five lakes are spread over the valley, occupying one tenth of its surface.--_Prescott._

17. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy hissing hot.--_Dickens._

18. The river was swollen with the long rains.--_Stevenson._

19. Farms, stripped of their fences and deserted by their owners, had for years produced only weeds.--_Greeley._

20. Granting the horse, granting good companionship, granting a good seat, and a pleasant day, a horseback ride certainly does unite all the requisites for healthful exercise.--_Hale._

21. I have sometimes been puzzled in Venice to know why churches should keep cats, church-mice being proverbially so poor and so little capable of sustaining a cat in good condition.--_Howells._

22. Her heavy black hair lay in a braided coil, with a long gold pin shot through it like a javelin.--_Holmes._

23. Thirty years ago, Last Island lay steeped in the enormous light of even such magical days.--_Hearn._

24. The tower had just been vacated by the garrison, who, hearing of the approach of the Austrians, had fled, leaving their arms, consisting of thirty excellent muskets.

25. And then again a thousand echoes go booming along the iron-bound coast.--_Black._

26. You see it growing gradually less dense.--_Tyndall._

27. Touching the Giant’s Stairs in the court of the palace, the inexecrable dates would not permit me to rest in the delusion that the head of Marin Falier had once bloodily stained them as it rolled to the ground.--_Howells._

28. The air was biting and smelled of frost.--_Stevenson._

29. The wind, roaring round its broad verandas, hissing through every crevice with the sound and force of steam, appeared to waste its rage.--_Hearn._

30. Away then they dashed, through thick and thin, stones flying and sparks flashing at every bound.--_Irving._

31. Lying down on the grass, I spoke in my soul to the earth, the sun, the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight.--_Jefferies._

32. Daffodils perished like criminals in their condemned caps without their petals ever seeing daylight.--_Holmes._

33. They advanced singing and shouting their war cries, briskly charging the enemy, as rapidly retreating and making use of ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare.--_Prescott._

34. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone forever.

35. But today being Saturday rather complicates matters.--_Conan Doyle._