1. The pitcher, cradling the baseball in his mitt, sized up the young batter at the plate. Which of the following statements about the sentence is true? a. The sentence needs commas because the participial phrase is essential. b, The sentence needs commas because the participial phrase is nonessential. c. The commas should be removed because the participial phrase is essential. d. The commas should be removed because the participial phrase is nonessential

The statement about the sentence that is true is B. the sentence needs commas because the participial phrase is nonsessential. Nonessential phrases, unlike essential ones, are not that important in a sentence, and can thus be easily removed without changing the meaning of the sentence drastically. They are always set off from the rest of the sentence by commas, whereas essential phrases don't have commas around them. Here, the nonessential phrase is cradling the baseball in his mitt.