
Look at these examples to see how participle clauses are used.
Looked after carefully, these boots will last for many years.
Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I avoided the question.
Having lived through difficult times together, they were very close friends.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Participle clauses enable us to say information in a more economical way. They are formed using present participles (going, reading, seeing, walking, etc.), past participles (gone, read, seen, walked, etc.) or perfect participles (having gone, having read, having seen, having walked, etc.).
We can use participle clauses when the participle and the verb in the main clause have the same subject. For example,
Waiting for Ellie, I made some tea. (While I was waiting for Ellie, I made some tea.)
Participle clauses do not have a specific tense. The tense is indicated by the verb in the main clause.
Participle clauses are mainly used in written texts, particularly in a literary, academic or journalistic style.
Present participle clauses
Here are some common ways we use present participle clauses. Note that present participles have a similar meaning to active verbs.
- To give the result of an action
The bomb exploded, destroying the building. - To give the reason for an action
Knowing she loved reading, Richard bought her a book. - To talk about an action that happened at the same time as another action
Standing in the queue, I realised I didn't have any money. - To add information about the subject of the main clause
Starting in the new year, the new policy bans cars in the city centre.
Past participle clauses
Here are some common ways that we use past participle clauses. Note that past participles normally have a passive meaning.
- With a similar meaning to an if condition
Used in this way, participles can make your writing more concise. (If you use participles in this way, … ) - To give the reason for an action
Worried by the news, she called the hospital. - To add information about the subject of the main clause
Filled with pride, he walked towards the stage.
Perfect participle clauses
Perfect participle clauses show that the action they describe was finished before the action in the main clause. Perfect participles can be structured to make an active or passive meaning.
Having got dressed, he slowly went downstairs.
Having finished their training, they will be fully qualified doctors.
Having been made redundant, she started looking for a new job.
Participle clauses after conjunctions and prepositions
It is also common for participle clauses, especially with -ing, to follow conjunctions and prepositions such as before, after, instead of, on, since, when, while and in spite of.
Before cooking, you should wash your hands.
Instead of complaining about it, they should try doing something positive.
On arriving at the hotel, he went to get changed.
While packing her things, she thought about the last two years.
In spite of having read the instructions twice, I still couldn’t understand how to use it.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
No worries, Kapil Kabir :) Glad to help.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kapil Kabir,
Half is a versatile word! It can be various word types.
Noun (e.g. He played the first half of the match; an hour and a half; two halves of an apple)
As a noun, half is countable. It can have an article before it. After it, there can be an of phrase (which can have an article in it). Sentence 4 isn’t correct because the noun money needs an article before it.
Pronoun (e.g. He played half of the match; half of us; I only want half)
As a pronoun, there can’t be an article before half. But after it, there can be an of phrase (which can have an article in it). Sentence 6 is this usage, and it's correct.
Adjective (e.g. a half century; a half hour)
This comes before a noun. There can be an article before it (depending on the noun), but not after it. Sentences 2 and 3 aren’t correct. I think it’s because the noun needs to be countable (but money is uncountable).
Determiner (e.g. The journey takes half an hour; half my life; half the world)
To be precise, half is a predeterminer. That means it comes before another determiner (e.g. an article, or a possessive adjective). It doesn’t have an article before it. So, sentence 5 is correct. Sentence 1 isn’t correct because money is uncountable.
I hope that helps.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello giangphan,
The phrase you ask about is a reduced relative clause, i.e. a reduced form of '... physical state, which has led to the assertion that they are immortal' (or the verb could be in a different tense).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi giangphan,
This is an example of a reduced relative clause. It is a non-defining relative clause which describes not the noun preceding it, but rather than whole clause:
Which refers to (the fact that) most of the bodies were badly burnt.
Reduced, we end up with making most of...
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again giangphan,
When the relative clause describes the whole clause before, we can reduce it to a participle:
When the relative clause describes the subject of the main clause, we can also use a participle:
However, when the relative clause refers to the object of the main clause, we cannot reduce it:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ujin,
It's because of the expression 'spend time'. We spend time doing something (see the third example sentence under entry 1.2 time); in this case, users spend 13% of their time watching or listening.
There is no real reason for this -- it's just what we say. With the expression 'take time', for example, we use an infinitive: 'it took four hours to clean the kitchen'.
The best thing to do is check how verbs are used in a good dictionary, like the one I linked to.
We're glad to hear that you've found LearnEnglish useful -- that's what we're here for!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Ujin,
While I expect you could find that sentence or one similar to it in writing somewhere, if it were my text, I would edit it because, as you point out, it's a unclear. I understand the intended meaning to be 'globalization is driven by ...' and 'globalization results in ...'
I don't think it's worth analysing the grammar behind it, as it's not clear and isn't a very good model in my opinion. I would rewrite the sentence and perhaps even split it into two.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Claudia,
Having been worked would be a passive form and, since work is normally an intransitive verb, it would be ungrammatical as well as not fitting the sense of the sentence.
Having worked or After working would be fine, if they were possible choices.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kaisoo93,
The sentence with the reduced relative clause is OK, but if I were writing I would change it to 'that aimed to boost' instead of using a participle. It's clearer and nearly as economical.
I'm afraid that the second sentence is a bit awkward. Perhaps in a specific context, the past continuous would make sense there, but in general it would probably be a past simple or past perfect tense. Also note that the subject 'policies' is plural.
I hope this helps you make sense of this.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kaisoo93,
I think it has to do with the actions not being simultaneous. In 'The boy passing the exam was very happy', 'passing' suggests the boy was happy while he was passing the exam, whereas presumably he was happy after he passed it.
In 'The policies in 2000 aiming to boost its economy had affected the environment badly', the aim did not follow the policy. The aim existed before and during the implementation of the policy, whether or not it came to fruition.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kapil Kabir,
Another is used with singular nouns, so
another girlsis not correct.However, when another is followed by a number it can be used with a plural noun:
In these examples another has the sense of a further.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ujin,
We're happy to help you understand a specific answer in our exercises if you let us know which exercise and which question you want to ask about. If you do ask us such a question, please explain to us what you thought the answer was and why -- this way we can help you better.
I'm afraid there is nothing else on our site about participle clauses, but I'm sure you can find some explanations by doing an internet search for 'participle clauses in English' or something similar.
I'd also suggest you pay attention when you're reading or listening so that you can analyse participle clauses when you come across them. It will probably take you some time to find some, as they are relatively rare, especially in speaking.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Karan Narang,
Could you please rephrase your question? I'm afraid I don't understand exactly what you're asking.
It's also really helpful if you ask as specific a question as you can. It's very difficult to answer general questions about grammar.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kapil Kabir,
I'm afraid I didn't understand whether you were asking about 'poor' or 'poorer', but in any case, both words are possible here, with little difference in meaning since they are compared to 'richer'.
I don't think there's any rule that explains this -- it's just that in this context, 'poor countries' and countries that are 'poorer than richer countries' seem to mean pretty much the same thing. I could be wrong about that, but without context, that's what it looks like to me.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hyungu Kim,
The way the clause is written here is incorrect. I would recommend something like 'even if their role on the team is small' in most situations.
In an older style of English, it would be possible to use a clause beginning with 'though' if you changed the verb from 'being' to 'be'. But this would sound quite strange to most people nowadays, so I would not recommend using it.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Reza,
I'm afraid your question is too long for us to handle here -- that's eight different sentences, and explaining each one could take some time.
If you'd like to ask us about one of them, please feel free, but please remember that our purpose here in the comments is to help users make use of the content and materials on our site, not to correct users' writing. We are simply too small a team with too much other work to be able to do this.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello MJ21,
I would suggest that the sentence is missing a word:
Without this, I think the sentence scans very awkwardly.
You could put the clause elsewhere in the sentence:
If the sentence is taken from a published text then it may be that during the editing process the clause was moved from a different position, mistakenly creating a very awkward structure.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Tifflora
We have several pages where you can read about these forms:
Please have a look and then if you have a specific question about a specific sentence, please let us know.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Fulsawange2020,
When the subject of the verb performs the action, we describe it as having an active meaning. For example:
When the subject of the verb receives the action, we describe it as having a passive meaning. For example:
You can read more about active and passive voice and meaning here:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/passives
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/active-and-passive-voice
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Gracy,
I think the sentence needs a comma before the participle clause. Without a comma, it appears that the participle clause describes the labour protections (i.e. the labour protections exempt factories from...), which would not make sense in this context. With a comma, it is the suspension of the labour provisions which is being described (i.e. the suspension of the labour protections exempts factories from...), which is clearly the meaning intended.
The participle clause describes the result of the action (suspending labour protections) in the main clause. We could rewrite it as two sentences as follows:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kaisoo93,
Yes, that's perfectly fine.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team