Which sentence contains a verbal phrase acting as a modifier?

Which sentence contains a verbal phrase acting as a modifier?

a. Passing my driving test on the first attempt would be the highlight of my day.

b. Giving a presentation in front of my class, I suddenly developed severe stage fright.

c. The water saturated the ground, which made it impossible to plant the garden.

d. Dante tolerated his brother’s annoying habits during homework time but later studied alone in his room

Answer: b. Giving a presentation in front of my class, I suddenly developed severe stage fright.

In this sentence, standing is a verbal phrase which is used as a modifier. The phrase “Giving a presentation in front of my class” is a participial phrase to which the subject “I” in the main clause is referred. It gives extra details on how the subject got to develop stage fright, information that was not yielded by the other categories. This is another participial phrase with ‘giving’ in the -ing form since it is created by using the present participle of a verb, it is an adjective in the sentence modifying a noun or a pronoun. This construction enables two related ideas to be put into two words and make more density and the content of the following sentence. In this case, the verbal phrase can be looked at as an adverbial modifier which gives background information on the main verb.