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
Hello learner2018,
The participle clause explains the main clause here, telling us how the main action is done: Economists often criticise rent control by arguing that...
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello learner2018,
You are correct: the clause beginning 'reducing...' shows the result of the main clause. A second result is given in a parallel clause ('...reducing...'), which is joined with the co-ordinating conjunction 'and'.
'Thus' is an adverb and does not change the structure of the sentence here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello learner2018,
We use 'by + -ing' (by + object (gerund)) to show the method or technique by which something was done:
Here, the meaning is clear: the method for altering the market outcome is the direct control of the price of an ice-cream cone.
Here, the meaning is different. The laws change the market outcome, and that results in the direct control of the.... In other words, by omitting 'by' we have changed the cause (method) into a result or co-occuring event.
This is quite common:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SonuKumar,
Yes, I understand the same thing, though the first one has an awkward structure -- the second one sounds much more natural. Please note that the word 'proformer' should be 'performer'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello learner2018,
The word 'thereby' is an adverb which means 'in this way' or 'through this'. Grammatically, you could use a relative clause (...which increases...) but it does change the meaning. The relative clause tells us the effect of the buy-back, whereas 'thereby' carries a suggestion of intention – it suggests that increasing the ratio was a goal, not just an incidental effect.
In this sentence, 'increasing' is a participle, not a gerund. It introduces a participle clause.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello learner2018,
Participle clauses are often used to show the effects (intended or accidental) of an action.
For example:
I spilt coffee on my laptop, ruining it completely. [When I spilt coffee on my laptop, I ruined it]
Your sentence works in the same way.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SonuKumar,
Both 'coming out of' and 'that (which) come out of' are possible.
You can use 'one' in place of 'someone', but the meaning is a little different. 'Someone' is more general' 'one' is most often used by a speaker as a formal way of referring to him- or herself.
Note that 'thought' and 'quote' are not usually capitalised.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello learner2018,
Gerunds are a verb forms which function as nouns. In the sentence they can be subjects or an objects.
Participles are verb forms which have adjectival or adverbial functions. They can modify nouns or verbs (verb phrases).
In both of your sentences the -ing forms are participles:
riding his bike is a participle phrase describing 'Jim'; it has an adjectival role in the sentence.
watching movies is a participle phrase modifying the verb phrase 'spent all of my leisure time'; it has an adverbial role in the sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi learner2018,
As Peter said, 'riding a bike' is a participle in that sentence; it tells us more about Jim.
An example of a gerund as an object complement is 'I like riding my bike'. 'riding' functions as a noun (which is why we call it a gerund) and it is the object of 'like'.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Cristina123,
The use of 'me' here is certainly non-standard, but it is something which you can hear quite often in informal spoken English. The correct form in my view would be 'my', as in 'My using this shampoo...' Here, the -ing form is a gerund, not a present participle, and has the same meaning as 'My use of this shampoo...'
The use of 'me' has come about through a misidentification of a word more often heard than seen written; in other words, people say 'my' but believe they are saying 'me' and then end up writing it as such.
It is possible to use 'by' before the -ing form, but then the -ing form is a gerund; when the -ing form is alone it is a participle. Thus we have:
By using this shampoo, I make my hair... [by=preposition; using=gerund object of preposition]
Using this shampoo, I make... [using=present participle]
I hope that helps to clarify it for you.
On LearnEnglish we focus on helping students rather than teachers. We have a sister site aimed at teachers which you can find here:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
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https://english.stackexchange.com/
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello aseel aftab,
There is no difference in meaning between these two sentences. In this and many cases, the participle clause is simply a more economic (i.e. shorter) way of expressing an idea, which is generally preferable in both writing and speaking (though this sounds like a written text). Sometimes people avoid using shorter forms to ensure clarity, but I'd probably use the first version if I were writing it myself, as it seems clear enough.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello vstallone,
The clause driven by digital media is actually a reduced relative clause rather than a participle clause. We can see this if we write the sentence in full:
The store has proved to be a breath of fresh air in a world which is driven by digital media.
The relative clause here has an adjectival function, describing the noun 'world' rather than referring to the main clause. It is different from a participle clause.
Compare this with the participle clause in the sentence I just wrote (describing the noun 'world'). That participle clause does not describe the noun ('function') but rather refers to the subject of the main clause ('the relative clause') and provides further information about that.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Viviane,
The reduced relative clause here does describe 'a world' rather than 'the store'.
When the sentence has two possible referees for the relative clause there is a possibilty of ambiguity, as you say. Usually the context makes it clear, but where more than one possibility exists it is conventional to place the relative clause immediately after the noun which it describes. For example:
The relative clause could be describing the shop or the painting, but we assume that it refers to the painting because of its position.
In your example, however, there is no ambiguity. The indefinite article before 'world' makes the relative clause necessary. This is because without any other infomation we would say 'in the world'. When we say 'in a world' we are making it clear that we are describing one of many conceivable worlds.
When I said 'compare this with with the participle clause in the sentence I just wrote', I meant the sentence immediately before, which was this sentence:
Here, the participle clause 'describing...' refers not to the noun 'function' but to the noun phrase 'The relative clause'. We can see this if we write the sentence out explicitly:
not
I hope that helps to clarify it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lolipopstar93,
This is an example of a participle clause or participle phrase (different terms are used). Here, it describes actions (closing and plugging) which happen at the same time as other actions (step inside).
You can read more about participle clauses on this page.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lolipopstar93,
Yes, you could write the sentence like that. It changes the meaning slightly, however.
If you use 'give in... walk thorough' then you are providing two sequential actions. In other words, you are saying 'first give in (doing this and this) and after that walk through'. If you say 'give in... walking though' then you have one action ('give in') which everything else is just a part of.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello monarchy110,
Tense has a verb specific meaning in linguistics. It is defined as changes in the verb form which show time from the point of view of the speaker. You can find a precise definition here.
The consensus amongst grammarians is that English has two tenses: past and nonpast (present). However, these are not tied to fixed times. Both can be used with past, present or future time reference.
For example, I can talk about the past using present forms, such as in an anecdote:
So this guy comes into the pub and he says to me...
I can talk about the future using a past form:
If you saw him next week, what would you do?
Beyond this, there are two aspects which can be added to these tenses: perfect and continuous/progressive. This enables us to create very many verb forms to express a wide range of meanings.
The last element of the verb form is voice, which can be active or passive.
Future time is expressed in many ways. We can use present continuous forms, a 'going to' construction, modal verbs like 'will' and 'should' and many other forms as well. These are not, however, tenses, grammatically speaking.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello karewingwong,
This is a reduced relative clause. The full version is '... lack access to electricity, which forces them to spend ...'. Although our defining relative clauses page only explains the simplest ways of reducing relative clauses, you might find it useful to read through it.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Windy,
The first -ing form ('suffering') is part of the present continuous verb 'are suffering'. The other two, 'feeling' and 'suffering' are participles. Gerunds are nouns and here these words are modifying nouns ('teachers' and 'students'), so that is a pretty good indication that they are not gerunds.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rox4090,
In answer to your first question, yes, that would be fine. Your rewording of the second sentence is also possible and is correct as well.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SonuKumar,
The past participle doesn't work here -- only the present participle is possible (e.g. 'She faced every problem arising in her life'). That said, it would be much more natural to say 'She faced every problem that arose in her life' -- participle clauses are relatively rare in most writing and speaking.
I'd also recommend a relative clause to speak about the present or future.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Windy,
Yes, that sentence has a present participle (going). Well done!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mdanesh,
Yes, that sentence is fine. Participles are non-finite verb forms so they have no inherent time reference. They take their time reference from the other verbs around them, or from the context.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Qayum,
Yes, I had no trouble understanding this message. Well done!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Abdo Hassan,
'having him as both' is the subject of the verb 'weakens'; it is not a participle clause. One of the uses of the -ing form is to create a gerund, i.e. to make a verb function as a noun. It's difficult to say without knowing the context, but perhaps this person has two positions that normally must be separate to prevent conflicts of interest.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team