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Homes built into the cliffs: past participle clauses with a passive meaning

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches past participle clauses through Mesa Verde, a national park in Colorado that protects about 600 cliff dwellings built mostly in the 1200s.

Grammar
A past participle opening the sentence for what was done to the subject (Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted.), the same subject rule, and -ing against the past participle.
Topic
How the cliff homes were built and preserved, and what is still debated, with words such as alcove, mortar, seep spring and stabilize.
Activities
A field explainer, a ranger tour and a reader's voice memo, self-checking drills, a trip-planning chat and a wheel about visitors inside the dwellings.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: homes in hard places

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: homes made of stoneVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a table with homes underneath

    • Look at the picture: homes under the rockPictureUnlock
    • Read Harper's field 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 3Let's listen: please don't touch the walls

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

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Built of sandstone, still standing

    • Study the scheme: Built of sandstone, …Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which ending is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Fill in the table: -ing or past participle?Fill in the tableTry it
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper's field notesDrag and dropUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: a trip to the cliffs

    • Choose the right replies: plan a trip to Mesa VerdeChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and answer: inside or outside?Spin the wheelUnlock

  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
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: a park guideChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper answers LeticiaDrag 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.

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

  • dwelling
  • alcove
  • mesa
  • mortar
  • seep spring
  • descendant
  • heritage
  • wear away
  • overlook

Grammar: past participle clauses with a passive meaning

A past participle can open a sentence to say what was done to its subject: Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted for centuries. Homes that were built, plastered, excavated and protected give the pattern plenty of work. Learners find the word the participle describes, place it right after the comma and keep this passive pattern apart from lesson 6's -ing clauses.

Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted for centuries.

Start a sentence with a past participle to say what was done to the subject. It's short, and it's common in writing.

Participle, comma, main clause

Start with the past participle and its details, such as by, of or since, then a comma and the main clause. The meaning is passive: Protected since 1906, the site… means the site has been protected, and Seen from the mesa top means when they are seen.

The pattern

past participle + by / of / since …, the subjectthe main verb

Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted for centuries.

Protected since 1906, the site still needs careful repairs.

What it means

Participle clauseIt means…
Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted.The dwellings were built of sandstone, and they have lasted.
Protected since 1906, the site is safe from diggers.The site has been protected since 1906, so it's safe from diggers.
Seen from the mesa top, the canyons look deep.When they are seen from the mesa top, the canyons look deep.
First seen by two ranchers in 1888, Cliff Palace soon drew diggers.After it was first seen in 1888, Cliff Palace soon drew diggers.

The same subject rule

Ask who or what was built, and put that word straight after the comma: Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are fragile. Any other subject leaves the participle dangling: Built in the 1200s, visitors love the dwellings says the visitors were built.

The same subject rule

The participle describes the subject of the main clause, so ask: who or what was built? That word comes right after the comma. Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are fragile. Not: Built in the 1200s, visitors love the dwellings. (The visitors weren't built in the 1200s!)

-ing or past participle?

When the subject does the action, use -ing: Seeing the ladders, Harper wanted to climb them. When the action is done to it, use the past participle: Seen from the overlook, Cliff Palace looks tiny. Walls don't build anything, so it's Built of sandstone, not Building of sandstone.

The subject does it: -ing

  • Building in the alcoves, the people stayed near water.
  • Seeing the ladders, Harper wanted to climb them.

It's done to the subject: past participle

  • Built of sandstone, the walls have lasted.
  • Seen from the overlook, Cliff Palace looks tiny.

No being, and the third form

A finished action needs the participle alone: Built in the 1200s, …, not Being built in the 1200s, … Irregular verbs need their third form: made, known, hidden, taken, worn. Saw from the overlook uses the past simple by mistake.

No being for a finished action

For something that was done and finished, use the past participle alone: Built in the 1200s, the dwellings… (not: Being built in the 1200s, …). Learn the irregular ones: built, made, seen, known, hidden, taken, worn, given, found, written.

Common mistakes

  • Built in the 1200s, visitors love the dwellings.

    Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are popular with visitors.

    the subject after the comma is the thing that was built

  • Building of sandstone, the walls have lasted.

    Built of sandstone, the walls have lasted.

    the walls didn't build anything: past participle

  • Being built in the 1200s, the dwellings are fragile.

    Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are fragile.

    a finished action: no being

  • Saw from the overlook, Cliff Palace looks tiny.

    Seen from the overlook, Cliff Palace looks tiny.

    the past participle (seen), not the past simple (saw)

At Mesa Verde

  • Built of sandstone, mortar and wooden beams, the dwellings have lasted for centuries.
  • Covered with earthen plaster, many walls were pink, brown, red, yellow or white.
  • Carved by natural springs, the alcoves sheltered the walls from the weather.
  • First seen by two ranchers in 1888, Cliff Palace soon drew diggers.
  • Protected since 1906, the walls are still fragile.
  • Taken from right here, a photo of that ladder will look perfect on my shelf.

Try the past participle clauses exercises

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What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 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:

  • say what was done to something at the start of a sentence: Carved by natural springs, the alcoves sheltered the walls from the weather.
  • keep the right subject after the comma: Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are fragile, not Built in the 1200s, visitors love the dwellings
  • choose -ing when the subject acts and the past participle when it's acted on: Seeing the ladders, Harper… but Seen from the overlook, Cliff Palace…
  • use irregular participles on their own, without being: Worn smooth by many hands, the stone step needs repairs.
  • plan a park visit and argue about tours inside the dwellings: Guided by a ranger, we'll learn a lot more.

Lesson 25 opens Buildings and heritage, unit 7 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. Lessons 6 to 8 started sentences with -ing, having and when asked, and lesson 9 shortened relative clauses with a participle; now a past participle leads the sentence on its own. Lesson 26 goes on to some of which and most of whom. Old stone homes are best described by what was done to them, so built, carved and protected come naturally.

Students open boxes of questions about homes in hard places and old walls, then learn twelve words, from preserve and excavate to alcove and overlook, with pictures and audio. They read Harper's field explainer on Mesa Verde, then hear her disagree with Jebediah, a ranger who wants fewer people inside the dwellings, and Leticia from Colorado ask for fewer tours; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them Harper's field notes with clauses to drag in. The speaking chapter has a chat that plans a fall trip to Mesa Verde and a wheel of questions about visitors inside or outside.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, word gaps and a memory game, then participles to choose in new sentences, irregular participles to type, sentences to order and a quiz on which sentence is right, ending with a park fact box and Harper's reply to Leticia.

Grammar:
past participle clauses · participle clauses with a passive meaning · Built of sandstone, … · the same subject rule · dangling participles
Topic:
Mesa Verde National Park · cliff dwellings · Ancestral Pueblo people · Colorado · historic preservation · buildings and heritage · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Ask “What was built?” before every gap, and have students underline the answer after the comma. If that word didn't receive the action, the participle dangles and the sentence needs a new subject.
  • Join passive pairs on the board: The alcoves were carved by springs. They sheltered the walls. Students drop were and the second subject: Carved by springs, the alcoves sheltered the walls.
  • Play the ranger tour twice: first for who wants visitors inside and who wants them at the overlooks, then for each sentence that opens with a participle, such as Seen up close, …
  • Keep known and debated apart: in the explainer, why people built in the cliffs is debated and why they left is unknown. Students mark each claim in the text as known, debated or unknown.

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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 8Why 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 25 · you're hereHomes 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 past participle clauses?
They are short clauses that begin with a past participle and have a passive meaning: Built of sandstone, the dwellings have lasted for centuries means the dwellings were built of sandstone. The participle describes the subject of the main clause, and a comma separates the two parts. Homes built into the cliffs, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, teaches them with the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde.
How do you form a past participle clause?
Take a passive idea and keep only the participle: The alcoves were carved by natural springs becomes Carved by natural springs, … Add its details (by, of, since, from), a comma, then a main clause whose subject is the thing that was carved: …, the alcoves sheltered the walls from the weather. The scheme in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai shows what each clause means in full.
What are some examples of past participle clauses?
Four from Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai: Covered with earthen plaster, many walls were pink, brown, red, yellow or white. First seen by two ranchers in 1888, Cliff Palace soon drew diggers. Known today as Ancestral Pueblo people, the builders farmed corn, beans and squash. Taken from below, Harper's photo shows a long wooden ladder. Each subject after the comma received the action: the walls were covered, the photo was taken.
What's the difference between present and past participle clauses?
A present participle clause uses -ing when the subject does the action: Building in the alcoves, the people stayed near water. A past participle clause is passive, because the action is done to the subject: Built of sandstone, the walls have lasted. A table in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai puts both forms side by side for verbs like build, see, protect and repair.
Why is “Built in the 1200s, visitors love the dwellings” wrong?
Because the participle describes the wrong subject: the sentence says the visitors were built in the 1200s. This mistake is called a dangling participle. Put what was built right after the comma: Built in the 1200s, the dwellings are popular with visitors. The same goes for Seen from the overlook, you can see Cliff Palace; say Seen from the overlook, Cliff Palace looks tiny. Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai drills this rule in a quiz on endings.
What are the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings?
They are about 600 stone homes built into canyon walls in Mesa Verde National Park, in southwestern Colorado. The ancestors of today's Pueblo peoples built them mostly in the 1200s, from sandstone, mortar and wooden beams, in alcoves carved by natural springs. Cliff Palace, with about 150 rooms, is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The park was created on June 29, 1906. Harper's explainer in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai tells the story.
Why did the Ancestral Pueblo people build in the cliffs?
Nobody knows for certain. The National Park Service says the main reason was water: most dwellings stand near seep springs, some of the park's only year-round water, and tree rings show long droughts. Shelter and defense are other ideas, and there may have been several reasons. Why people moved south, leaving the dwellings empty by 1300, is not known either. Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai keeps the known and the debated apart.
How do I teach past participle clauses to B2 students?
Start from full passive sentences that students already know, such as The dwellings were built of sandstone, and cut them down to Built of sandstone, … Then practice the same subject rule before setting -ing against the past participle. Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai moves from Harper's explainer and the ranger tour to the scheme, a choice of forms, typed participles, a quiz on endings and a table of both forms.
What's a good game for practicing past participle clauses?
Play “Name that building”: a student describes a famous building in three clauses, such as Built in…, Designed by… and Seen from…, and the class guesses it. For speaking, the wheel in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai has prompts like Describe an old building in your town. Start with “Built in…” or “Seen from…”.
What's good homework for past participle clauses?
Homework works best when it tests the subject after the comma, not just the form: endings to choose, irregular participles to type and sentences to rebuild. All ten homework tasks in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a park fact box (Located in southwestern Colorado, …) and Harper's reply to a reader who wants fewer tours.
How do you practice past participle clauses one-to-one?
Describe places from photos: the teacher shows an old building, and the student describes it with clauses like Built in the 1920s, … or Seen from the street, …, then the two swap roles. The chat in Homes built into the cliffs on edio.ai needs no partner: Lavinia plans a trip to Mesa Verde, and the student picks the replies whose participle clauses are correct.
Are there interactive exercises for past participle clauses?
Yes. Without an account, this page plays three parts of Homes built into the cliffs, a B2 lesson on edio.ai: Harper's tour with Jebediah, a ranger; a table that sets -ing against the past participle; and Lavinia's chat about a trip to Mesa Verde. Everything else needs an account.
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