The Participle

Recognize a participle when you see one.

Participles come in two varieties: past and present. They are two of the five forms or principal parts that every verb has. Look at the charts below. Regular Verbs:
Simple Present giggle(s) help(s) jump(s) Simple Past giggled helped jumped Past Participle giggled helped jumped Present Participle giggling helping jumping

Verb giggle help jump

Infinitive to giggle to help to jump

Irregular Verbs:
Simple Present bring(s) ring(s) sing(s) swim(s) Simple Past brought rang sang swam Past Participle brought rung sung swum Present Participle bringing ringing singing swimming

Verb bring ring sing swim

Infinitive to bring to ring to sing to swim

Notice that each present participle ends in ing. This is the case 100 percent of the time. On the other hand, you can see that past participles do not have a consistent ending. The past participles of all regular verbs end in ed; the past participles of irregular verbs, however, vary considerably. If you look at bring and sing, for example, you'll see that their past participlesbrought and sungdo not follow the same pattern even though both verbs have ing as the last three letters. Consult a dictionary whenever you are unsure of a verb's past participle form.

Know the functions of participles.

Participles have three functions in sentences. They can be components of multipart verbs, or they can function as adjectives or nouns.

Parti cipl es i n Multipart Verbs A verb can have as many as four parts. When you form multipart verbs, you use a combination of auxiliary verbs and participles. Look at the examples below: Our pe t a ll igator at e Mrs. O lse n' s po odle. Ate = simple past tense [no participle]. Wi th a bro om, Mrs. Olse n was b e a ti ng our a ll igator ov er the he ad i n an a tte mp t to re trie ve her poo dl e. Was = auxiliary verb; beating = present participle. Our pe t a ll igator h a s b ee n st a l ki ng n e igh bor ho od p ets because my br o ther Bill y f orge ts t o fee d the po or rep tile. Has = auxiliary verb; been = past participle; stalking = present participle. Our pe t a ll igator sh ould h a ve b e e n ea ting G a tor C how, crunc hy nug ge ts th at Bi ll y le ave s for hi m in a b owl. Should, have = auxiliary verbs; been = past participle; eating = present participle. P a r t i c i p l e s a s Ad j e c t i v e s Past and present participles often function as adjectives that describe nouns. Here are some examples: T h e c r yi n g b a b y d r e w a l o n g b r e a t h a n d s u c k e d i n a spi der crou chi ng in the c orner of the crib. Which baby? The crying baby. Which spider? The one that was crouching in the corner. The mangle d p air of sun gl as ses, bruis e d fac e, bro k e n arm, and blee di ng kne es meant Genette had taken another spill on her mountain bi ke. Which pair of sunglasses? The mangled pair. Which face? The bruised one. Which arm? The broken one. Which knees? The bleeding ones. Parti cipl es as Nouns Present participles can function as nounsthe subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and subject complements in sentences. Whenever a present participle functions as a noun, you call it a gerund. Take a look at these examples:

Sn ee zi ng ex hausts Ste ve, who r equire s eig ht ti ssues and

tw en ty- seven Gesundhe its be for e he is done. Sneezing = the subject of the verb exhausts. Valer ie ha tes co ok i ng bec aus e sc rap in g burnt g oo k out of pan s always un der mines her enjoyme nt of th e food. Cooking = the direct object of the verb hates. W e g a v e b u n g e e j u m p i n g a c h a n c e . Bungee jumping = indirect object of the verb gave. Joel le b it her tong ue in stead of crit i ci zi ng h er pr om date' s powder blue tuxe do. Criticizing = object of the preposition instead of. Omar's le as t fa vor ite sp ort is wa ter - s ki i ng b ec au se a ba d spill once cause d him to lose his swim trunks. Water-skiing = the subject complement of the verb is.