Which sentence uses a present participle as an adjective? A) I want to spend more time enjoying the outdoors. B) Let's go dancing at the club tonight after work ends. C) I delayed telling Jerry about the bad news from Paris. D) The smell of burning leaves filled up the neighborhood.

The sentence that uses participle as adjective is: Option D: The smell of burning leaves filled up the neighborhood.

Explanation:

The present participle (usually in - ing form) acts as an adjective and describes noun or other verbs. The past participle is in (-ed, - en, - d form usually) and is used as an adjective.

In Option B, burning is the present participle which is modifying the noun 'leaves'. Other participles in other options are not modifying a noun. Option A only mentions about enjoying outdoors. It is not describing any noun. Similarly, in Option B and C, participles, dancing and telling, respectively, are not modifying any nouns in the sentence, hence are not acting as adjectives.

D) The smell of burning leaves filled up the neighborhood.

here, the present participle is 'burning' which is also used as an adjective for 'leaves'.

Explanation:

A present participle is a verb which usually ends in - ing and forms a continuous tense. It can be used as an adjective as used in the example above. It can also be used as infinite clause 'Because I'm here' or as a noun 'by fast running'.

the word burning here is clearly present participle. It also serves as an adjective to 'leaves' it is describing a condition of the leaves.