Participles

A quick intro to participles!

In this blog, I will give a quick introduction to participles and how they can be used in sentences. Let’s get started!

What is a participle?

• A participle is a verb that can act as an adjective.

• It is also a type of verbal.
• There are two types of participles: Present participles and Past participles. Let’s learn more about them!

Present participles

• Present participles are the verbs that end with an ‘ing’.
• Present participles sometimes act as gerunds.

Following are some ways that you can form present participles.

Past participles

• Past participles are the verbs that usually end with an ‘en’ or ‘ed’.
• However, the irregular verbs may end with ‘-t’, ‘-en’, ‘-ne’, etc.

Following are some ways that you can form past participles.

Now that we have a good understanding of present participles and past participles, let’s see how they are used!

Using participles

Participles can be used in the following ways:

1. To form verb tenses
2. To form the passive voice
3. To form perfect participles
4. As adjectives
5. As nouns

1. Forming verb tenses

By combining the present participles with the verb ‘to be’, you can form the following verb tenses:

• Present Continuous
• Past Continuous
• Future Continuous
• Present Perfect Continuous
• Past Perfect Continuous
• Future Perfect Continuous

Let’s see how we can combine the verb ‘to be’ with the present particle ‘eating’!

2. Forming a passive voice

By combining the past participle with the verb ‘to be’, you can form the passive voice. Let’s check out a few examples!

3. Forming perfect participles

By combining the past participle with the present participle ‘having’, you can form perfect participles that indicate the completion of an action.

Let’s check out a couple of examples!

4. Using as adjectives

Both present participles and past participles can be used as adjectives. Let’s check out a couple of examples!

5. Using as nouns

Present participles can also be used as adjectives. Let’s check out some examples!

Hope you had a good understanding of participles and their usage.

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More Resources

1. Writing Fundamentals Guide — Verbals
2. Writing Fundamentals Guide — Participles
3. Writing Fundamentals Guide — Gerunds
4. LEXICO — What’s the Difference Between Regular and Irregular Verbs?
5. UsingEnglish.com — Irregular Verbs
6. Grammarly — Participles
7. Grammar Monster — What Are Participles?
8. Dictionary.com — What’s a Participle?

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