Participles used as direct adjuncts are often, if taken with their adjuncts, equivalent to adjective clauses; and adjective clauses are often equivalent to participles with adjuncts.

Exercise 234

Change participles with their adjuncts to adjective clauses, and adjective clauses to phrases containing participles.

1. Near the target was a seat bedecked with ribbons.

2. We were ushered into a beautiful room, which was lighted by hundreds of candles.

3. I had my own little sled, filled with hay and covered with reindeer skins.

4. On a level spot in the center was a company of odd-looking personages playing at ninepins.

5. Here stood a great oak tree with branches spreading broadly around.

6. He climbed up into a hemlock which overhung a brook.'

7. The emperor's palace, made entirely of the finest porcelain, was the most magnificent in the whole world.

8. The children, laughing heartily at their mother's surprise, asked her how she liked their gift.

Exercise 235. Development

(1) Try to analyze the following sentence, which is taken from a school composition:

Looking again at the pile of brush, it was burning brightly.

You see that the word looking seems to be a participle expressing action, but the actor is not mentioned, and so there is no noun or pronoun for the participle to be added to. The writer should have said, Looking again at the pile of brush, I saw that it was burning brightly, or On looking again at the pile of brush, I saw that it was burning brightly. The participle looking in the first sentence is added to the pronoun I. In the second sentence, the phrase on looking again at the pile of brush shows the time of seeing and is added to the verb saw.

A participle that is not clearly added to some noun or pronoun is often called a "dangling participle." Can you see why?

(2) Analyze the following sentence: Playing with her brother on the porch of her father's home, a stranger approached and threw a sack over the head of the girl.

You see that the participle playing expresses an action of the girl, and so it with its adjuncts must be added to the noun girl. But from its position it seems to belong to the noun stranger. The sentence is not clear. Either of the following is correct:

While the girl was playing with her brother on the porch of her father's home, a stranger approached and threw a sack over her head.

A stranger approached and threw a sack over the head of the girl, who was playing with her brother on the porch of her father's home.

Analyze each of these sentences and explain the changes that have been made in the original sentence. Do you think one of them is better than the other?