It depends on what form you are talking about if an essay says to use 40 characters that means 40 letters if it is in a show it means the person hope this helps if not let me know what type you are referring to <span />
"Focused on helping his neighbors" is a participial phrase. A phrase is made up of a group of words, without a subject and a verb. It functions as a single part of speech. A phrase consists of a participle and includes modifiers and complements.