Question

4. Which of these sentences correctly uses a participial phrase?
A. Crying noisily, my baby sister pointed to the broken toy.
B. I insisted that Teresa move away from the boiling kettle.
C. After breakfast, Timothy will accompany his grandfather to the museum.
D. Gabriella struggled to find adequate space for the enormous textbook in her locker.

Answer 1

Answer:

A. Crying noisily, my baby sister pointed to the broken toy.

Explanation:

Participial phrase is a set of words, starting with a participle, that functions as an adjective, or more precisely, modifies a noun.

Participle is a verb that functions as an adjective. Present participle usually ends up in -ing (don't mix it with gerund), while past participle ends in -ed (if the verb is regular) or it can have different endings if the verb is irregular.

Now, answers C. and D. don't contain a participle, let alone a participial phrase.

Answer B. contains the participle "boiling". It looks like a verb, but it modifies the noun "kettle" so it's participle. However, there is no participial phrase, only a participle.

Answer A. contains present participle "crying" as well as the participial phrase "crying noisily". This phrase functions as an adjective since it modifies the noun phrase "my baby sister".