Participles in Action

This is the simple, boring text:

I woke up. I felt ill. I called the doctor. I visited the doctor. The doctor told me to open my mouth. I opened my mouth. The doctor told me to say “aah”. I said “aah”. The doctor said “oh!”. The doctor saw something green. The green thing was in my mouth. The green thing was alive. The doctor was frightened. The doctor called the police. The doctor shot me in the head.

...which became:

I woke up feeling ill. Having called the doctor to make an appointment, I visited him and he told me to open my mouth, which I did. The doctor told me to say “aah”. While I was saying “aah”, the doctor saw something green living in my mouth. Terrified, the doctor called the police. Having done so, the doctor shot me in the head.

I'm still not happy with that ending, but thanks to Abdullah for raising the question of how participles can help us in our writing.

The handout on participles that we used in class is available here (including answers). The powerpoint presentation from today's class on conditionals can also be downloaded here.