4. Why were the voices of women silenced in the Puritan church? Why were there no female church
leaders in the Rhode Island Colony?

The question is incomplete, below is the completely stated question:

Which sentence features a present participial phrase functioning as an adjective?

A. Blushing furiously, the newcomer couldn’t believe he’d been so gullible.

B. Fatigued after a long day, the woman recuperated with a quiet evening.

C. Our teacher likes to spring impromptu tests on us so we keep studying.

D. The heat radiating from the pavement caused the air to ripple and waver.

Blushing furiously, the newcomer couldn’t believe he’d been so gullible. (A.)

Explanation:

A present participial phrase is a phrase that consists of a present participle ( a word ending with '-ing') while functioning adjectivally to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun. In the options given in the question, option A contains the adjectival phrase 'Blushing furiously' with the word blushing, being the present participle form of 'blush', and the phrase modifying the noun 'the newcomer'.

Present participial phrases should not be confused for Gerunds, which also begins with an -ing word, but do not have adjectival functions. For example:

Playing the piano is Mary's hobby.

The gerund phrase in the sentence above is Playing the piano, and it functions as the subject of the verb 'is'.

On the other hand, if it is used like this:

Playing the piano, Mary did not say a word to the boys.

Here, 'playing the piano' is a present participial phrase that describes the noun Mary.