Participles
Participles add movement to your sentences. It's possible to get many actions into a sentence by using a string of particples.
Here is a simple sentence of the S + V + O form. A boy hit the ball.
There is only one active element in the sentence, the hitting of the ball. It is easy to add more, making the sentence more dynamic, interesting, revealing more about the complete action involved in what appears to be such a simple thing as hitting a ball.
A boy, dreaming of the major leagues, hit the ball.
But this is not enough; there is more to this little story.
A boy, dreaming of the major leagues, pumped up from watching the World Series, hit the ball.
Notice that not all participles end in "ing," only the present participles. Past participles end in "ed."
But this story also can be expanded.
A boy, dreaming of the major leagues, pumped up from watching the World Series, wanting so desperately to be a star, hit the ball.
Now there is a lot of action. It is not, in the case, visible action. But it is action. This sentence gives us movement, interior, psychic movement. Such things always accompany such seemingly simple acts as hitting a ball, don't they?
There are more possibilities:
A boy, dreaming of the major leagues, pumped up from watching the World Series, wanting so desperately to be a star, hit the ball, leaving his friends amazed at what a one-armed man could do when he tried.
Notice the difference between these participles. The first three ("dreaming...," "pumped ...," wanting...,") all refer to the subject--"A boy." The last participle ("leaving..." ) does not refer to the nearest noun, "the ball," but back to the subject. But since the activity of "leaving his friends amazed" comes after he hits the ball, it would not make sense to put this participle before the verb. You must be careful about using participles because they tend to attach themselves rather quickly to the nearest noun.
Here's an example. Saluting the crowd, the lion charged the lion-tamer.
It seems, momentarily, that it is the lion who is saluting the crowd. And maybe it is, though it is probably the lion-tamer. Since it is not certain, it is ambiguous. This sentence should probably read: The lion charged the lion-tamer as he was saluting the crowd.
It should be immediately obvious to which noun in the sentence the participle refers to.
Now it's your turn. Write a simple, three or four word sentence. Expand it with three participles before the subject. Expand it with one participle after the subject.