Participle phrases are an excellent tool to help show the reader. Learn how participles can improve your writing and then become a participle phrase detective by finding how Roald Dahl uses particple phrases.
This general slide deck can be used for explicit and guided instruction on the participle phrase. The key question to ask when using sentence models is: 'What do you notice'. Make a copy of the slide deck.
The following activities are:
Underline the structure (in a worksheet)
Expand the sentence with a participle and then compare with the author
Rearrange/Unscramble the sentence so that it still makes sense
Imitate the model sentence
Locate the structure in the text
Each of these activities provides an authentic opportunity for students to focus on the craft of writing they have been learning. The variation in activities are provided as stimulus for you to think about when writing your own activities.
Underline the structure
Underline the participle phrase in the sentence below
The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool.
Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the piece of paper in his hand.
Expand the sentence
Expand the sentence by writing a participle phrase in the blank space. Compare your choices with a partner and the author.
The women, _______________________________________________________________________, came shortly after their menfolk.
Rearrange/Unscramble
Unscramble the following sentence so that it makes sense. Remember to insert appropriate punctuation as required. There is more than one possibility.
a) laughing
b) back to the pile of stones
c) and ran
d) Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand
Imitate
Imitate the following sentence
The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters.
Locate the structure
Locate 3 examples of the participle phrase used in this extract.
An appositive is a noun that follows another noun and refers to the same thing. For example, in the sentence “The car, a new Porsche, ran out of gas,” the words car and Porsche refer to the same thing. The second noun (Porsche) is usually more specific and designated as the appositive. Having a second noun often allows the writer to add more detail and emotion.
Watch the video to learn more, or use it as a resource with your students.
There are very uses of the appositive phrase in this story, however the following exercises can be applied to any text. These are provided to demonstrate how to explicitly and regular address these concepts with authentic texts.
The following activities are:
1. Match the appositive
2. Expand the sentence
3. Combine sentences
4. Locate in the text
5. Unscramble
6. Underline
Each of these activities provides an authentic opportunity for students to focus on the craft of writing they have been learning. The variation in activities are provided as stimulus for you to think about when writing your own activities.
Underline
Underline the appositive in the sentence below:
Mr Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, held the black box securely on the stool until Mr Summers had stirred the papers thoroughly with his hand.
Combine
Combine the two sentences, using part of the second sentence as an appositive.
The postmaster followed him carrying a three-legged stool and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr Summers set the black box down on it.
Mr Graves was the postmaster.
Locate
Find 3 examples of the appositive phrase in the story
The following are unfinished sentence aspects you could also focus on in this story. You would need to create a slide deck and other content. There are other models located in the sentence model page
The lottery was conducted -as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.
When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers, and he waved and called. "Little late today, folks." [Combination – adverbial + participle]
Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it. [Combination – adverbial + appositive]
Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations.
Mr. Graves took the child's hand and removed the folded paper from the tight fist and held it while little Dave stood next to him and looked up at him wonderingly.
Absolutes
Just as Mr. Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd.
Mrs. Dunbar and her two sons stood together, Mrs. Dunbar holding the slip of paper.
Nancy was twelve, and her school friends breathed heavily as she went forward switching her skirt, and took a slip daintily from the box "Bill, Jr.," Mr. Summers said, and Billy, his face red and his feet overlarge, near knocked the box over as he got a paper out.