participial phrases

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kassihiki

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Hello mates

I have a question regarding participial phrases.

Are these used mostly in written english or in spoken as well?

regards

Kassihiki
 
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J&K Tutoring

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Should be both. I imagine there are some speakers of your native language who don't use it very well, and certainly you may hear native English speakers breaking all kinds of 'rules', especially among rural or poorly educated people. Spoken English is sometimes so contracted that the participal forms are almost lost, especially to a learner's ear, but they should be there.
 

GoesStation

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Some of the most careful speakers of American English I've ever met have been in (and from) rural western Kentucky. They value eloquent, clear speech very highly.
 

kassihiki

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Thanks

I am asking since these shortened clauses are not very common in speech in my mother language, at least that is what grammar books says.

kh
 

tzfujimino

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Could you give us an example sentence using the "participial phrases"?
 

kassihiki

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Although asking for money, Ted was cheerful.
 

kassihiki

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Hi

I am not sure yet whether to use shortened clauses in spoken english or not. Do you think for example, that the sentences below are fine in spoken english?

Waiting for John, I made some tea.
Shouting loudly, Peter walked home.
Having won the match, Susan jumped for joy.
Wanting to speak to him about the contract, I decided to arrange a meeting.
Sitting at the cafe with my friends, I suddenly realised that I had left the oven on at home.

Thank you.
 
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Matthew Wai

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I decided to arrange a meeting with him to discuss the contract.
 

kassihiki

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Okay :)

Does the usage of participial phrase in spoken language changes the style to be more formal or informal? Or, what is the reason of using them in spoken language?


kh
 

teechar

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Hello, [STRIKE]mates[/STRIKE]

I have a question regarding participial phrases.

Are these used mostly in written English or in spoken English as well?

Regards,

Kassihiki
In future, you can just go right ahead and ask your question.

Are participial phrases mostly used in written/formal English, or can they be used in spoken/colloquial English too?
 

GoesStation

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Now that I've seen some examples of participial phrases I'd say they're quite rare in conversational American English. That said, there are some (like the one* I began this sentence with) that are so common as to be clichés.

*(If I understand the construction correctly)
 

kassihiki

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Now that I've seen some examples of participial phrases I'd say they're quite rare in conversational American English. That said, there are some (like the one* I began this sentence with) that are so common as to be clichés.

*(If I understand the construction correctly)

Do you mean that participial phrases in generally are not very common in spoken American English?

kh
 
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teechar

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Kassihiki: please click the "Edit Post" button and capitalize English and American in post#16. :-?
 

GoesStation

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Do you mean that participial phrases in general[STRIKE]ly[/STRIKE] are not very common in spoken American English?

Yes. That's what "quite rare" means.

Are you really in South Georgia, a British Overseas Territory in the Antarctic with no permanent residents?
 
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