Participles

1st Brushstroke

    A participle is  a verb, ending in -ING (like, writing, drawing, thinking, running, ect). There are different ways you can use a participle. One is the normal, less descriptive way. 

~If you have a simple sentence; She sat on the bench, you can add a participle in the beginning of the sentence or at the end. For example, you could do: 

Thinking, she sat on the bench or She sat on the bench, thinking. 

You separate the participle and the simple sentence with a comma. 

~The harder, more creative way to write with a participle, is to describe the verb ending in ING (usually described with an adj. ending in -ly [an adverb]). 

So you would do; She sat on the bench, thinking quietly. Thinking quietly, she sat on the bench. This is still quite easy, so lets take it a step further. 

~Basically, what you are doing here is adding more detail to the participle and the adverb.She sat on the bench, thinking quietly about the drab day she had.  You could also add the "participle phrase" at the beginning of the simple sentence. 

~ While learning this in class, I found it hard to find participles to add to my simple sentence. So what my teacher would do, is he would give us the simple sentence and then underneath, he'd write a couple of different participles that we could use. 

The man walked into the store.

-Strolling          -Roaming           -Wondering

-Thinking         -Hoping             -Carrying (bags)

Now, I choose the one I like the best. In this case I'm going to pick "hoping". Hoping to find the perfect gift for his wife, the man walked into the store.

Additionally, in a simple sentence you can add more than one participle. 

She observed the office, sitting quietly and watching busy workers. 

~ Participles can be used commonly and once you get the hang of it, it's very easy and you'll find yourself doing it all the time. 

~If you would like to practice, you can use these simple sentences;

*She sat in the audience.
*Rebecca looked out the window.
*It was cold outside.

POSSIBLE ANSWERS
-Watching the actors run around the stage and noticing the man in the back, she sat in the audience.
(watching, noticing, observing, thinking, gaping, )
-Wondering what to wear, Rebecca looked out the window.
(wondering, thinking, hoping, laughing,)
-Shivering beneath her jacket and shaking violently, it was cold outside.
(shivering, shaking, breathing, blowing, snowing).

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A brushstroke helps you paint a picture with your words.