What is a restrictive participial phrase?

Answer 1

A participial phrase that limits (i.e. restricts) the application of the verb to the subject.

For example, 'My relatives who are arriving tomorrow enjoy fish and chips.' This means that those of my relatives who happen to be arriving tomorrow enjoy fish and chips. But it provides no information about those of my relatives who do not happen to be arriving tomorrow. The participial clause 'who are arriving tomorrow' restricts the verb 'enjoy' to a subset of my relatives.

On the other hand, if I use commas to separate the participial clause from the rest of the sentence, it stops being restrictive and becomes descriptive: 'My relatives, who are arriving tomorrow, enjoy fish and chips.' This means 'My relatives enjoy fish and chips, and by the way they are arriving tomorrow.' The participial clause 'who are arriving tomorrow' describes my relatives.

Commas used for this purpose are always in pairs. They are equivalent to opening and closing parentheses.

Answer 2

A restrictive participial phrase is a phrase that functions as an adjective and provides additional information about a noun or pronoun. It is called "restrictive" because it is essential to the meaning of the sentence and cannot be removed without changing the intended meaning. It is usually introduced by a present participle (-ing form) or a past participle (-ed or irregular form) verb.