Question

Locate the participle and the word it modifies.

The essay, written in 1810, is surprisingly modern.

Participle:

Word modified:

Answer 1

It would look like Modern would be the participle.
Because Modern modifies what the Essay is, Essay is the word modified.

I'm pretty sure this is right, since no other word in the sentence seems to modify anything.

Answer 2

The answer above is incorrect. The correct answer is:

Participle: written

Word Modified: essay

Hope this helps!