Participle
What are Participles?
Participle is a word that is formed from a verb and can act as a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
They are watching a game.
(watching - present participle and not a gerund, as here it has been used as a verb and not as a noun.)
Some participial adjectives have no corresponding verb form. We create them by combining a noun with a participle.
E.g. drug-induced coma (drug – noun; induced – participle; here drug-induced is an adjective describing the noun ‘coma’)
energy-boosting drink (energy – noun; boosting – participle; here energy-boosting is an adjective describing the noun ‘drink’)
We can also use these after the nouns they describe.
E.g. Homeopathic medicines are alcohol-based. (alcohol-based – an adjective working as subject complement)
Participial phrase
Participial phrases - participles combined with other words.
For example:
Wearing his new uniform, Mragank went to work. (wearing his new uniform - participial phrase acting as an adjective, describing the noun Mragank).
Types of Participles
Verbs have five forms – base form ($V_1$), $V_{s/es}$ , $V_2$, $V_3$ and $V_4/V_{ing}$
The last two, i.e. Past Participle ($V_3$) and Present Participle ($V_4/V_{ing}$) are the two major types of participles.
Though there are three types of Participles in total:
Present Participle ($V_4/V_{ing}$) - each present participle ends in -ing, e.g. playing.
Past Participle ($V_3$) – they do not have the same ending. Past participles of regular verbs end in –ed (e.g. play - played), but that of irregular verbs vary considerably (e.g. write - written, sing - sung).
Perfect Participle (having + $V_3$): i.e. having + Past Participle
All the three types of participles have passive forms too.
We differentiate between the active and passive forms of participles in a sentence based on the sense they make.
Present Participle
Present Participle, denoted by $V_4/V_{ing}$ : Base form of the verb ($V_1$) + ing
E.g. hearing, walking, jumping etc.
They are watching a movie. (watching is a present participle here and not a gerund as here it has been used as a verb and not as a noun.)
I saw a burning tree. (burning is a present participle here and not a gerund as here it has been used as an adjective and not as a noun.)
In the above sentences ‘$V_1$ + ing’ denotes an action going on or an incomplete action.
Past Participle
Past Participle, denoted by $V_3$
E.g. broken, wounded, gone etc.
There is a wounded person outside. (wounded - past participle working as an adjective)
Driven by poverty, she committed suicide. (driven by poverty – past participle phrase working as an adjective phrase)
Past Participle represents a completed action or state.
Perfect Participle
Perfect Participle: having + $V_3$ (third form of the verb)
After having finished his homework, she went to play.
Perfect participle denotes a completed action, after the completion of which some time has passed.
Participle as Adjective
Past and Present participles often function as adjectives that describe nouns.
E.g.: crying girl, broken leg
When used as an adjective, past participle has a passive meaning, while present participle has an active meaning.
burnt house (past participle; a house that is burnt)
falling boulder (present participle; a boulder that is falling)
Shouting loudly, she walked out. (She was shouting – Active meaning)
Shouted at loudly, she walked out. (Someone else shouted at her – Passive meaning)
Some more examples:
A demotivated person can’t be successful. (demotivated - past participle working as an adjective)
A person who is demotivated can’t be successful. (demotivated - past participle working as an adjective; who is demotivated – relative clause)
A person, demotivated, can’t be successful. (demotivated - past participle working as an adjective)
Adjective clause and Participle
We can substitute an adjective clause with a participle or participle phrase.
There were a lot of windows in the villa that were broken. (that were broken – adjective clause)
There were a lot of broken windows in the villa. (broken – participle working as an adjective. This and the previous sentence have the same meaning.)
In the previous sentence, the participle ‘broken’ was before the noun ‘windows’ it was modifying. The participle can also come after the noun it describes. It is generally done to give more emphasis to participle.
They don’t want to leave any stone unturned. (unturned – participle working as an adjective, modifying the noun ‘stone’)
Participle working as an adjective can be subject complement too.
You seem tired. (tired - past participle working as subject complement)
It can act as object complement too.
He kept me waiting. (waiting – present participle working as object complement; it is modifying the object ‘me’.)
The flying lieutenant, who was dressed in sky blue uniform, looked charming. (who was dressed in sky blue uniform – adjective clause)
Dressed in sky blue uniform, the flying lieutenant looked charming. (Dressed in sky blue uniform – participle phrase working as an adjective, comes before the noun it describes. Such a participle phrase is usually separated by a comma. We dropped the subject and verb of the adjective phrase)
The girl, who is talking to Rohit, is his fiancé. (who is talking to Rohit – adjective clause)
The girl talking to Rohit is his fiancé. (talking to Rohit - participle phrase working as an adjective, comes after the noun it describes. We dropped the subject and verb of the adjective phrase)
Participles used Absolutely
Participles may be used Absolutely (with a noun or pronoun going before):
Weather permitting, there will be a full match tomorrow.
The sea being smooth, the ship lifted its anchor.
Participle as Verb
English verbs have four forms:
Present tense ($V_1$ and $V_{s/es}$ - write/writes), Past tense ($V_2$ - wrote), Past participle ($V_3$ - written) and Present participle ($V_4$ - writing)
Property 1
When participles function as a verb, they denote aspect but not tense.
- Present participle form – indicates an ongoing activity
- Past participle form – indicates a completed activity
To denote tense they need a helping verb. In such verb phrases, the helping verb(s) work as the finite verb part and participles work as the non-finite part. So, these helping verbs carry the tense and are also influenced by the subject’s number and person.
Aanya has cooked dinner today. (has – helping verb as per the subject, showing present tense; cooked – past participle)
We have cooked dinner today. (have – helping verb as per the subject, showing present tense; cooked – past participle)
Aanya had cooked dinner yesterday. (had - helping verb, showing past tense; cooked – past participle)
Aanya will have cooked dinner by 8 P.M. (will, have – helping verbs; cooked - past participle)
Property 2
As you already may have noticed, past participles do not necessarily refer to past time. As they do not denote tense, they can be used to show past, present or future time.
Tom Hanks had taken a vacation. (Tense – Past, denoted by had; Aspect – perfect, denoted by past participle taken)
Tom Hanks has taken a vacation. (Tense – Present, denoted by has; Aspect – perfect, denoted by past participle taken)
Tom Hanks will have taken a vacation by the time this movie is released. (Tense – Future, denoted by will have; Aspect – perfect, denoted by past participle taken)
In case you are confused, Aspect denotes the position of the work denoted by the verb, i.e. whether it is complete or ongoing.
In the above sentences, the past participle denotes perfect aspect, i.e. the action of taking the vacation is complete. In the first sentence, the work was completed in the past; in the second sentence, the work has been completed in the present; and in the third sentence, the work will be complete in the future.
To identify Participle as adjective Vs Participle as a part of verb phrase
Test for present participle - Use ‘very’
We can use ‘very’ to test whether a participle is working as a verb or as an adjective. ‘Very’ is a special kind of adverb which is generally used to modify an adjective and not a verb. So, if the sentence/phrase makes sense even when we use ‘very’ before the participle, then the participle most probably is an adjective.
Consider the following sentences:
This dog is annoying.
This dog is very annoying. (it still makes sense; so here annoying is working as an adjective, and a subject complement; is – main verb)
This dog is annoying the workers.
This dog is very annoying the workers. (makes no sense; so here annoying is working as a verb, in fact it is the main verb; is – helping verb)
Test for past and present participle - Convert participle into a relative clause
If we can transform a participle into a relative clause then it means that it is working as a participle adjective, otherwise it is working as a verb.
These rotten eggs smell really bad. (rotten – past participle working as an adjective)
The eggs that are rotten smell really bad. (that are rotten - relative clause)
Earthquake has destroyed the whole town. (destroyed – past participle working as a verb)
Earthquake that has destroyed the whole town. (sounds incomplete)
The barking dogs did not let me concentrate. (barking – present participle working as an adjective)
The dogs that were barking did not let me concentrate. (that were barking - relative clause)
Those cats are eating fish. (eating – present participle working as a verb)
Those cats that are eating fish. (sounds incomplete)
Test for past participle - Presence of a ‘by’ preposition phrase and ‘that’ clause
Presence of a ‘by’ preposition phrase is an indication that the -ed form of participle is working as a verb.
Conversely, if a complement is present (e.g. a that-clause), then it’s an indication that the participle is working as an adjective.
The judge was convinced by the lawyer’s argument. (convinced – participle working as a verb; action of convincing was done by the arguments of the lawyer.)
The judge was convinced that the defendant was guilty. (convinced – participle working as an adjective; convinced here is a subject complement, describing the subject; judge = convinced)
Participle in Passive Voice
Passive voice is formed as follows: to be + past participle
The cows are milked twice a day. (are – a form of the verb ‘be’; milked – past participle)
The goon was captured near the toll plaza. (was – a form of the verb ‘be’; captured – past participle)
Players will be taken to the stadium by bus. (will – modal verb; be – a form of the verb ‘be’; taken – past participle)
There are various forms of passive voice, but past participles features in every one of them.
Participle as Adverb
Participles can function as adverbs too, which describe how the verb was done.
Aanya came screaming out of the club. (came how? - screaming)
She came home crying. (came home how? - crying)
Present Participle Vs Gerund
Concept 1
If the –ing form is working as a noun (with some characteristics of a verb), then that’s a gerund and if it’s working as an adjective or verb, then it’s a present participle.
Reading is my hobby. (reading – gerund, as it is working as a noun, which is the subject of the sentence)
I like reading. (reading – gerund, as it is working as a noun, which is the object of the sentence)
I saw him reading. (reading – present participle, it is working as an adjective)
Concept 2
Whether an -ing form is a gerund or a present participle can sometimes be a matter of interpretation:
Hunting wolves can be dangerous.
This is an ambiguous sentence which can have two different meanings.
If in the above sentence, hunting is a present participle working as an adjective that describes wolves, then the sentence means:
‘Wolves that hunt’ can be dangerous.
If instead, hunting is a gerund, then wolves is the object of the gerund and the sentence means:
‘To hunt wolves’ can be dangerous.
Extra Books and Tools
If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.