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Why is the first Monday of September a day off? Participle phrases with after, while, when and once

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches participle phrases after conjunctions through the history of Labor Day, from an 1882 parade to a national holiday in 1894.

Grammar
A conjunction + -ing when the subject acts (After marching in the parade, the band played at the picnic.) or + past participle when it's done to the subject (When asked, Delmar talked about Oregon.).
Topic
Oregon's first state law, the 1894 act and what the day means now, with words such as long weekend, sack race and unofficial.
Activities
An explainer to read, an argument and a reader's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a weekend-plans chat and boxes on what a holiday is for.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: three days off

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: work, rest and a holidayVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2A parade on a Tuesday

    • Look at the photo: a small-town paradePictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Hammock or sack race?

    • Listen to Harper and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Delmar's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: after marching, when asked

    • Study the scheme: after marching, when askedGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: -ing or past participle?Fill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: what's a holiday for?

    • Choose the right replies: plans for the long weekendChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: what's a holiday for?Open the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct order: new sentencesUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Harper's Labor Day weekend guideChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Isaiah answers DelmarDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Holiday vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • getaway
  • hammock
  • festival
  • sack race
  • burro
  • bill
  • unofficial
  • back-to-school
  • carpenter

Grammar: participle phrases after conjunctions

A participle phrase after a conjunction is a shorter time or condition clause: After they marched in the parade, … becomes After marching in the parade, … Isaiah's Labor Day explainer has both kinds: after marching and when signed. Learners drop the subject, and be if there is one, then choose -ing when the subject acts or the past participle when something is done to it.

After marching, when asked: short clauses after conjunctions

Keep the conjunction and drop the subject (and be). Use -ing when the subject does the action, and the past participle when it is done to the subject.

After, before, while, since and when + -ing

When the subject does the action, use -ing: Before heading back to school, we have one last cookout. Since moving to Oregon, my aunt has loved Labor Day. The phrase stays the same for every person: After finishing the issue, I (or she, or they) headed home.

+ -ing: the subject does it

ConjunctionFull clauseShort clause
afterAfter they marched in the parade, the band played at the picnic.After marching in the parade, the band played at the picnic.
beforeBefore we head back to school, we have one last cookout.Before heading back to school, we have one last cookout.
whileWhile she was relaxing in the hammock, Harper fell asleep.While relaxing in the hammock, Harper fell asleep.
sinceSince she moved to Oregon, my aunt has loved Labor Day.Since moving to Oregon, my aunt has loved Labor Day.
whenWhen you plan a cookout, check the weather.When planning a cookout, check the weather.

Every person: the short clause never changes

PersonExample
IAfter finishing the issue, I headed home.
youAfter finishing the issue, you headed home.
heAfter finishing the issue, he headed home.
sheAfter finishing the issue, she headed home.
itAfter finishing its work, it headed back to its dock.
weAfter finishing the issue, we headed home.
theyAfter finishing the issue, they headed home.

When, once, if and unless + past participle

When something is done to the subject, use the past participle: When asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon (when he was asked). Once finished, the issue goes live at noon. Both the subject and be drop out: If kept in the cooler, the lemonade stays cold.

+ past participle: it is done to the subject

ConjunctionFull clauseShort clause
whenWhen he was asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon.When asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon.
onceOnce it is finished, the issue goes live at noon.Once finished, the issue goes live at noon.
ifIf it is kept in the cooler, the lemonade stays cold.If kept in the cooler, the lemonade stays cold.
unlessUnless we are told otherwise, we start at nine on Tuesday.Unless told otherwise, we start at nine on Tuesday.

Labor Day, short and clear

  • After marching, the workers were to spend the day at a festival with their families.
  • When signed by President Cleveland in 1894, the act made Labor Day a national holiday.
  • Before heading back to school, lots of kids enjoy one last cookout.
  • While competing in work contests, miners showed their town what their jobs were.
  • Once written into law, the date became the first Monday in September.
  • Unless told otherwise, Pascal cleans the office every morning.

-ing or past participle?

Ask whether the subject does it or it's done to the subject: When asking questions, Harper smiles (she asks); When asked questions, Harper smiles (someone asks her). After after, before, while and since, use -ing, never to + verb or the base form.

-ing or past participle?

Ask: does the subject do it, or is it done to the subject? When asking questions, Harper smiles. (She asks.) When asked questions, Harper smiles. (Someone asks her.) Once finished means once it is finished. With after, before, while and since, use -ing, never to + verb or the base form: after marching, not after to march; while relaxing, not while relax.

One subject for both clauses

The phrase takes the main clause's subject: After grilling the burgers, Isaiah sat down (Isaiah grilled). After grilling the burgers, the rain started says the rain grilled. When the subjects differ, write a full clause: After Isaiah grilled the burgers, it started to rain.

One subject for both clauses

The short clause has no subject, so it takes the subject of the main clause. After grilling the burgers, Isaiah sat down. (Isaiah grilled them.) Not: After grilling the burgers, the rain started. (The rain didn't grill anything!) When the subjects are different, use a full clause: After Isaiah grilled the burgers, it started to rain.

Common mistakes

Four slips: After to march, While relax in the hammock, When asking by a reporter and Once finishing, the story goes live. The fixes are After marching and While relaxing, and the past participle when someone else acts: When asked by a reporter, Once finished.

  • After to march in the parade, we had a picnic.

    After marching in the parade, we had a picnic.

    after + -ing, never to + verb

  • While relax in the hammock, Isaiah fell asleep.

    While relaxing in the hammock, Isaiah fell asleep.

    while + -ing, not the base form

  • When asking by a reporter, Delmar talked about Oregon.

    When asked by a reporter, Delmar talked about Oregon.

    someone asked him: the past participle

  • Once finishing, the story goes live at noon.

    Once finished, the story goes live at noon.

    the story is finished: the past participle

Try the participle phrases exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 18 auto-checked exercises
  • 6 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • shorten a time clause with -ing: After they marched in the parade, … → After marching in the parade, the band played at the picnic.
  • use a past participle after when, once, if or unless when something is done to the subject: When asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon.
  • choose between -ing and the past participle: When asking questions, Harper smiles (she asks) against When asked questions, Harper smiles (someone asks her).
  • avoid after to march, while relax and danglers: After grilling the burgers, Isaiah sat down, not After grilling the burgers, the rain started.
  • talk about plans for a long weekend: After finishing my last class on Friday, I just want to unwind.

Lesson 8 closes Work-life balance, unit 2 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. It joins the participle clauses of lessons 6 and 7 to the time clauses with when, before and after from B1.1 lesson 11, keeping the conjunction and dropping the subject. Lesson 9 opens unit 3, Turning points, with reduced relative clauses. A holiday built on parades, laws and picnics strings one action after another: after marching, once signed.

Students spin a wheel of questions about long weekends, holidays and the end of summer, then learn twelve words, from unwind and head back to sack race and burro, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's explainer on how Labor Day began, then hear Harper and Isaiah argue about whether the day still means something, and Delmar from Oregon insist that his state came first; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a table that asks for -ing or the past participle. In the speaking chapter, students plan the long weekend with Josefina in a chat and open boxes on what a holiday is for.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game; then form choices and gaps in new sentences, a quiz on what each sentence means and word order; then Harper's Labor Day weekend guide with forms to choose and Isaiah's answer to Delmar with words to drag in.

Grammar:
participle clauses after conjunctions · after / before / while / since + -ing · when / once / if / unless + past participle · the same subject rule
Topic:
Labor Day · Oregon's 1887 Labor Day law · American holidays · the long weekend · the unofficial end of summer · work-life balance · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Start from a long-weekend calendar: Friday to Monday. Students say what they'll do after finishing work, before heading home and while relaxing, then add things done to them: when asked, if invited.
  • Ask why the holiday is in September before the reading. Students guess, then read to find Oregon's June date, the 1894 act and why the date moves from year to year.
  • Listen for the two sides first: who says Labor Day still means something, and who calls it a long weekend? On a second listen, students note phrases like When asked and While relaxing and say each one in full.
  • Fix a dangler together: write After grilling the burgers, the rain started. Students ask who grilled, then rewrite it two ways: After grilling the burgers, Isaiah sat down and After Isaiah grilled the burgers, it started to rain.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6A paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8 · you're hereWhy is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14Bat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18A lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20Volunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24The comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

What are participle phrases?
A participle phrase is a group of words built on a participle, with no subject of its own. After a conjunction, it shortens a time or condition clause: After marching in the parade, the band played at the picnic. When asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon. The B2 lesson Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai teaches these with the history of Labor Day.
How do you use participle phrases with after, before and while?
Keep the conjunction, drop the subject and use -ing, but only when both clauses share a subject: Before we head back to school, we have one last cookout becomes Before heading back to school, we have one last cookout. While relaxing in the hammock, Harper fell asleep. Never after to march or while relax. The scheme in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai shows five conjunctions that take -ing.
When do you use a past participle after when, once or if?
Use it when the action is done to the subject: When asked about Labor Day, Delmar talked about Oregon means when he was asked. Once finished, the issue goes live at noon. If kept in the cooler, the lemonade stays cold. When the subject does the action, use -ing: When planning a cookout, check the weather. Why is the first Monday of September a day off?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, drills both in one table.
Is it “when asked” or “when asking”?
It depends on who asks. When asked means someone asks the subject: When asked by a reporter, Delmar talked about Oregon. When asking means the subject asks: When asking a stranger for directions, smile. So When asking by a reporter is wrong: a by phrase calls for the past participle. It's one of the common mistakes in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai.
What is the history of Labor Day?
It began with a parade in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. Cities passed Labor Day laws in 1885 and 1886, and Oregon passed the first state law on February 21, 1887, for the first Saturday in June. Congress made the first Monday in September a legal public holiday in an act approved on June 28, 1894. Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai tells the story.
Who started Labor Day?
That's still debated. Some records name Peter J. McGuire of the carpenters' union, and many people believe a machinist, Matthew Maguire, proposed it. Either way, the Central Labor Union held the first celebration in New York City in 1882, and President Grover Cleveland signed the national act in 1894. Isaiah's explainer in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai gives both names and calls it a tie.
How do I teach participle phrases to B2 students?
Start with full time clauses students already use, with after, before and when, and shorten them where both clauses share a subject. Add the past participle once -ing feels easy, with when asked and once finished. Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai goes from Isaiah's explainer and his argument with Harper to the scheme, a gap-fill with words in brackets and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing participle phrases?
Try “Holiday chain”: the first student says After waking up on Labor Day, I made pancakes. The next starts from that action, After making pancakes, I…, and so on around the class. Add when asked or if invited for a challenge. The boxes in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai ask things like After working all week, what's the best way to unwind?
What's good homework for participle phrases?
Good homework makes students choose -ing or the past participle: options like When asked, When asking or When ask, gaps with base forms in brackets, a quiz on what each sentence means and word order. All ten homework tasks in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai check themselves, including Harper's guide to a Labor Day weekend.
How do you practice participle phrases one-to-one?
Plan a long weekend together: the teacher asks What will you do after finishing work on Friday? and What do you bring when invited to a cookout?, and the student answers with the same phrases, then asks back. The chat in Why is the first Monday of September a day off? on edio.ai needs no partner: Josefina asks about the long weekend, and each wrong reply has a slip like When inviting to a cookout.
Are there interactive exercises for participle phrases?
Yes. Why is the first Monday of September a day off?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, plays three of its parts here without an account: Harper and Isaiah's argument about the long weekend; a gap-fill built from verbs in brackets; and a chat about plans for the long weekend. The rest needs an account.
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