TYPICAL ERROR Magellan named the ocean lying between America and Asia the Pacific Ocean. Although Magellan was killed in the East Indies, some of his ships sailing around the Cape of Good Hope completed the first navigation of the earth.
CORRECTION Magellan named the ocean lying between America and Asia the Pacific Ocean. Although Magellan was killed in the East Indies, some of his ships, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, completed the first navigation of the earth.
EXPLANATION Participial phrases are phrases introduced by present participles (for example, lying, running, applauding, steaming) or past participles (for example driven, broken, pushed, damaged).
There are two participial phrases in the typical error above: lying between America and Asia and sailing via the Cape of Good Hope.
There is an important functional difference between those two phrases. The first one (lying between America and Asia) is essential to our understanding which ocean is being referred to, which ocean is being defined; it is the ocean between America and Asia, not another one. The second participial phrase (sailing via the Cape of Good Hope) adds information that is not essential and could be left out without affecting the main point of the second sentence. We thus call the first phrase a defining participial phrase and the second phrase a non-defining participial phrase.
Notice how commas have been inserted only around the non-defining phrase, not around the defining phrase.
Work out which sentence in each of these pairs contains a non-defining participial phrase; that is, one that should be marked off by a comma or commas (depending on where the phrase comes in the sentence). Insert the comma or commas.
aNeil Armstrong watched by millions of viewers on earth stepped onto the moon and announced, ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ The astronaut following him down the ladder was Buzz Aldrin.
bA participial phrase inserted to define a noun is called a defining participial phrase and should not be separated by a comma from the noun that it defines. Adding non-essential information non-defining participial phrases should be marked off by commas.
cThe actor playing the lead role in the school play was particularly nervous. Encouraged by a great deal of applause he soon lost his nervousness.
dDriven at incredibly fast speeds racing cars need to have their tyres changed during races to ensure that traction is maintained. Tyres subjected to the stresses of racing lose a lot of rubber.
eThe first player representing Asia in a Grand Slam tennis final was Li Na. Having won two grand slam titles she was forced to retire in 2014 because of knee injuries.
