Is there any easy way to figure out how to identify participial phrases? I need to find them in my homework sentences and am having a hard time determining if I am identifying the right phrases or not.

Answer 1

They are not always easy.

Participial phrases almost always start with the participle, either in present (-ing) or past (-ed or ?) form. They almost always have a direct object in them; they can have other modifiers in them, too.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#participle
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#participle
Scroll almost all the way to the bottom to find the section on Participial Phrases.

Answer 2

A participle is a VERB that describes a noun. examples:
worn tires...to wear is a verb
fishing line....to fish is a verb
torn jeans.... to tear is a verb
tired child....to tire is a verb.

So, the easiest way to find a participle is to ask first, is it a verb; second is it describing a noun.

A participial phrase needs to be next to the noun it is describing. Landing in the pasture, the pilot of the airplane safely unloaded his cargo.

Landing is a verb describing the pilot.