Participles
Participles are formed from verbs and are used to create tenses and as adjectives.
There are three types of participles:
present participles
past participles
perfect participle
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
FORMING THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE
verb base +ing
be – being
draw – drawing
play – playing
EXCEPTIONS
ending silent -e, drop -e, add +ing
drive – driving
come – coming
write – writing
ending -ie, change -ie to y, add +ing
lie – lying
ending –ic, add +k, then +ing
panic – panicking
frolic – frolicking
ending – l, double -l, then +ing
travel – travelling
grovel – grovelling
one syllable and last 3 letters are
consonant, stressed vowel, consonant: – double the last letter then +ing
stop – stopping
begin – beginning
more than one syllable and last 3 letters are consonant, stressed vowel, stressed consonant: – double the last letter then +ing
occur – occurring
refer – referring
begin – beginning
USES OF THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE
as adjectives
The boiling water scaled her.
as adjectives, they may from compound nouns
walking stick, wedding dress, racing horse.
PAST PARTICIPLE
FORMING THE PAST PARTICIPLE
verb base +ed or +d
work – worked
talk – talked
verbs ending –e, add +d only
save – saved
move – moved
EXCEPTIONS
verbs with a short vowel:
double the last consonant, then add +ed
hop – hopped
stop – stopped
ending –y, change –y to –i, add +ed
study – studied
marry – married
try – tried
There are many irregulars, including:
be been
begin begun
bring brought
come come
do done
draw drawn
eat eaten
give given
go gone
have had
know known
make made
read read
say said
see seen
sit sat
take taken
for a fuller list see here
USES OF THE PAST PARTICIPLE
to form the perfect tenses
He had broken the lamp.
as adjectives
The broken lamp was in the bin.
PERFECT PARTICIPLE
FORMING THE PERFECT PARTICIPLE
The perfect participle is made using the present participle of the verb ‘to have‘ and the past participle.
present participle having + past participle
USES OF THE PERFECT PARTICIPLE
The Perfect Participle is used to express an action that was completed in the past.
Having eaten, he was no longer hungry.
Having apologised, she left quickly.
Having seen the city, he was not impressed.