Participle clauses

A participle clause is a shortened clause that begins with a participle and lets us combine two ideas in one neat sentence without a conjunction or a repeated subject. The present participle (-ing) has an active meaning and can replace a clause that shares the same subject: 'Feeling tired, she went to bed' (= Because she felt tired...). It can also describe two simultaneous actions: 'He sat by the fire reading a book.' The past participle (-ed/-en) has a passive meaning: 'Written in 1990, the book is still popular' (= The book, which was written in 1990...). The perfect participle (having + past participle) shows that one action finished before another: 'Having finished his work, he went home.' Participle clauses are very common in formal writing and reading texts and often express reason, time or result. The golden rule is that the participle and the main clause must share the same subject, otherwise the sentence 'dangles'. For example: 'Having locked all the doors, she finally felt safe.'