Which participial phrase adds a sense of sadness to the sentence the man looked out over the water.?
remembering his childhood,
wondering about the future,
thinking ahead to a big meal,
thinking back to his failed marriage,

Thinking back to his failed marriage is the correct answer.

Explanation:

A participial phrase is compounded by an adjective formed by a verb, meaning that it describes something or someone and it is not an action. Gerunds or adjectives like frozen (also past participle of freeze) are examples of participial words.

Sadness expresses the condition of being sad. In the question, the first option (childhood) could mean both happy and sad moments, so it is not accurate. Second option, the future, could cause uncertainty or desperation, but maybe not sadness. Big meals usually cause to look forward to eating them, different from sadness. Finally, the last option provides a "failed marriage", meaning that the man did not have a good time during and after the marriage, turning the last option into the correct answer.

tree and the cat in the tree