Past and Present Participles

There are two types of participles in English, and each type is used in a variety of ways. 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 in italics: The sun was shining so I went for a walk.The man speaking English is our teacher.That movie was extremely exciting. Past Participles Past participles are used similarly to present participles. Here are some examples of past participles in italics: He has flown to Chicago twice.The broken boy returned home without a prize.That man looks lost. 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. Present Continuous: They are  watching  TV at the moment.Past Continuous: Mary was  talking  on the telephone when I came home.Future Continuous: Ill be  playing  golf tomorrow at three oclock.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 oclock.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: Shes already  eaten  lunch.Past Perfect: They had  left  for California before she called.Future Perfect: I will have  bought  the clothes by tomorrow evening. 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 participlePresent passive: Tom was taught by Frankie.Past passive: My car was made in Germany. 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: Hes an interesting professor. Id like to take a class with him.  Shes a boring speaker.   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. 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: Whos that boy playing the piano? - (Who is that boy whos  playing the piano?)Thats 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. 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.