Question

Read the sentence. Sitting in his highchair, the baby poked curiously at his food. What is the participial phrase, and which word does it modify? at his food; modifies poked in his highchair; modifies Sitting Sitting in his highchair; modifies baby poked curiously; modifies baby

Answer 1

Heyo kiddo. How are you today?

The question asks, "What is the participial phrase, and which word does it modify?"

We can easily deduct from the sentence and the choices given that, "Sitting in his highchair; modifies baby."

Why?

Well just read the sentence again.
Q. What modifies the baby?
A. Sitting in his highchair.

Answer 2

The correct answer is C. Sitting in his highchair; modifies baby.

Participles are relatively easy to spot - present participles always end in -ing. A participle phrase includes the participle and all the words connected to it. In the sentence above, the participle phrase is sitting in highchair.

The participial phrase here modifies (or describes) the noun baby. You can easily determine this by asking the question How is the baby poking curiously at his food? And the answer is Sitting in his highchair.