Present
Participle and Past Participle
(Adjective)
1. Definition
of Present Participle and Past Participle
There
are two types of participles in English, and each type is used in a variety of
ways. There are Present Participle and Past Participle and the position as an adjective.
How to
Form Present Participle and Past Participle
Subject
/ Object
|
Verb
|
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Adverb
|
Adjective
|
Noun
|
Present
|
Past
|
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Infinitive
|
To Infinitive
|
Present
Participle
|
Past
Participle
|
Gerund
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
Eat
|
To eat
|
Eaten
|
Eating
|
Eats
|
Eat
|
Ate
|
|
Speak
|
To speak
|
Spoken
|
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Participles
are words derived from verbs that can function as adjectives or as parts of
verb phrases to create verb tenses. The two main types of participles are the
present participle and the past participle. The perfect participle depends on
the past participle for its forms. Participial phrases function as adjectives
that modify the subjects or other nouns in sentences.
Adding -ing to
the base form of a verb creates the present participle. For example, eat is
the base form of the verb to eat. The present participle of eat is eating.
Present participles always end in -ing. Other examples of present
participles include swimming, laughing, and playing.
The
present participle can function as an adjective and modify nouns in sentences.
For example, in the sentence “The winning athlete gets a trophy,” the
present participle winning describes the noun athlete.
a. The Present Participle
Present
participles appear in progressive (or continuous) verb tenses,
which show when a verb or action was/is in the process of happening (or in
progress). For example, a sentence in the present progressive tense is: “She
is sitting now.” A sentence in past progressive tense is: “She
was sitting there 10 minutes ago.” A sentence in future progressive
tense is: “She will be sitting at her desk in an hour.” All three of
these sentences indicate when she was/is in the process of sitting.
Present
participles that function as nouns in sentences are known as gerunds. For
instance, in the sentence “Traveling is one of his favorite
activities,” traveling (the verb in the present participle) functions
as a noun.
b. The Past
Participle
For
regular verbs, adding -ed to the base form creates the past
participle. For example, the past participle of cook is cooked.
Past participles formed from irregular verbs may have endings like -en, -t, -d,
and -n. Examples include swollen, burnt, hoped and broken.
Some past participles remain the same as the base forms of irregular verbs, like set and cut.
Past
participles can also function as adjectives that modify nouns. For example, in
the sentence “She placed the cut flowers in the vase,” the past
participle cut modifies the noun flowers.
Past
participles can also combine with the verb to be to create the passive
forms of verbs. For example, in the sentence “He was taken to
the store by his daughter,” the verb form was taken includes the past
participle taken and was, which is the past tense of the
verb to be.
c. Participial
Phrases
Participial
phrases are participles combined with other words that act as adjectives
within sentences. Usually, participial phrases modify the subjects of
sentences, but sometimes they modify other nouns. For example, in the sentence
“Wearing his new suit, Bill went to work,” the participial phrase wearing
his new suit acts like an adjective to describe the subject of the
sentence, Bill.
Within a
sentence, participial phrases should be close to the nouns that they modify to
avoid confusion. For example, in the sentence “Leaving the store, he hailed a
taxi,” it’s clear that the phrase leaving the store modifies the
subject he .
Participial
phrases that don’t clearly have a noun to modify are known as dangling
modifiers. For instance, in the sentence “Leaving the store, the traffic was
heavy,” it seems as if the traffic is leaving the store, but this is
impossible.
Participles
are words formed from verbs. Present participles function as adjectives and
help form a progressive verb tenses. Past participles function as adjectives and
combine with the verb to be to create passive verb forms. Participial
phrases modify nouns in sentences.
d. Gerund as Nouns
When –ing
forms are used to make continuous tense forms, they are called present
participles. Note that present participles are often confused with
gerunds. Although both gerunds and present participles look alike, they have
totally different grammatical properties.
Gerunds
serve the same purpose as nouns. They can be the subject or object of a verb or
preposition.
Example:
- Smoking is
injurious to health. ( Here the gerund smoking acts as the subject of the verb
is.)
- Singing is
his hobby. ( Here the gerund singing acts as the subject of the verb is.)
e. Present
participles, on the other hand, are mainly used to form continuous tense forms.
They can also act as adjectives.
Example:
-. They
are waiting for us. ( Here the present participle waiting goes after
the verb be and forms the present continuous verb are waiting.)
-. It has
been raining since morning. ( Here the present participle raining
helps in the formation of the present perfect continuous tense.)
f. Past
participles are forms like wanted , broken, started, begun etc.
Some verbs have the same past simple and past participle forms.
Examples
are:
Want /
wanted / wanted
Cry /
cried / cried
Start /
started / started
g. In the
case of some other verbs, the past participle form is different from the past
simple form.
Examples
are:
Break /
broke / broken
Begin /
began / begun
h. The past
participle forms are used to form perfect tenses and passive verb forms.
Examples
are:
They
have left.
Someone
has broken the window.
You are
fired.
When
–ing forms are used like adjectives or adverbs, they have similar meanings to
active verbs.
Example:
Falling leaves
(= leaves that fall)
A fish-eating
animal is an animal that eats fish.
j. When participles are
used like adjectives and adverbs, they have passive meanings.
Examples
are:
A burnt
child is a child that has been burnt.
A broken
heart is a heart that has been broken.
2. The Form of Present Participle and Past Participle
a. Present
Participles
The
first type of participle is the present participle. The present participle is
often referred to as the '-ing ' form of the verb. Here are some examples of
present participles:
The sun
was shining so I went for a walk.
The
man speaking English is our teacher.
That
movie was extremely exciting.
b. Past
Participles
Past
participles are used similarly to present participles. Here are some examples
of past participles:
He
has flown to Chicago twice.
The broken boy
returned home without a prize.
That man
looks lost.
c. Participles
Used as the Main Verb
Participles
are used with auxiliary verbs in a variety of tenses. It is important to
remember that the changes in the conjugation of the verb are made to the
auxiliary verb. The participle form remains the same.
Present
participles are used for continuous (or progressive) tenses. These include the
present continuous, past continuous and future continuous.
Example:
Present
Continuous: They are watching TV at the moment.
Past
Continuous: Mary was talking on the telephone when I came home.
Future
Continuous: I'll be playing golf tomorrow at three o'clock.
Present
Perfect Continuous: He has been working in the garden for twenty
minutes.
Past
Perfect Continuous: They had been waiting for thirty minutes when he
finally arrived.
Future
Perfect Continuous: Jack will have been studying for four hours by
six o'clock.
Past
participles are used with simple perfect tenses (continuous perfect or
progressive perfect tenses take the participle 'been' + the present participle
- have been playing, will have been working, etc.).
Present
Perfect: She's already eaten lunch.
Past
Perfect: They had left for California before she called.
Future
Perfect: I will have bought the clothes by tomorrow evening.
d. Passive
Voice and Participles
Past
participles are also used in all passive voice sentences. To quickly
review the passive voice structure:
Passive
Subject + be (conjugated) + past participle
Present
passive: Tom was taught by Frankie.
Past
passive: My car was made in Germany.
e. Participles
Used as Adjectives
Participles
can also be used as adjectives to describe nouns. The difference between the
present participle and the past participle can make quite a difference in
meaning:
The bored man
went to sleep during the discussion.
The boring man
put other people to sleep during the discussion.
In the
first sentence, the past participle 'bored' is used to mean that the man
himself was bored; in the second sentence, the present participle 'boring' is
used to mean that the man was boring to others.
The past
participle is used as a passive adjective. The passive adjective expresses how
someone feels.
Any interested student
should apply in the office.
The
overly excited boys need to calm down!
The
present participle is used as an active adjective. The active adjective
describes the effect on people or things:
He's
an interesting professor. I'd like to take a class with him.
She's
a boring speaker.
f. Participles
Used as Adverbs
The
present participle is sometimes used as an adverb to describe the manner in
which a verb is performed. Here are a few examples:
She
taught pounding the grammar into their heads!
Angelo
works considering all angles.
Notice
how the present participle could be preceded with 'by' to give the same
meaning:
She
taught (by) pounding the grammar into their heads!
Angelo
works (by) considering all angles.
g. Participles
Used like Clauses
Finally,
participles are also used in short phrases that function as clauses. In some
cases, the phrase containing the participle drops the relative pronoun:
Who's
that boy playing the piano? - (Who is that boy who's playing the piano?)
That's
the man remembered by his friends. - (That is the man who was remembered by his
friends.)
These
structures can also introduce sentences with either the present participle or
the past participle:
Spending all
his free time in the library, he continued to learn outside of class.
Left alone
with nowhere to go, Mary decided to return home a few days early.
h. Present
Participles and Gerunds
The
present participle is often confused with the gerund which is also casually
referred to as the 'ing ' form of the verb. The difference between the
gerund and the present participle can be confusing. The main difference is
that a gerund is used as a noun:
Taking a
vacation is important to your mental health.
We
enjoy watching romantic comedies.
Compiled web sources:
https://www.dictionary.com/e/whats-a-participle/
https://www.englishgrammar.org/present-participles/
https://www.thoughtco.com/present-and-past-participles-explained-1211104
