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Participles

There are three types of verbals: participles, infinitives, and gerunds. These words are based on verbs and consequently express action or a state of being although they function as adjectives and nouns.

A participle is a verbal that has the same properties of an adjective and some of the same as a verb. Similar to an adjective, participles are used to modify nouns and/or pronouns. Like a verb, a participle sometimes requires an object.

There are three types of participles: present participles, past participles, and past perfect.

• Present participles are occurring now and end in ing.
• Past participles signify an event that began and ended at a specific time in the past. Past participles end in ed, en, d, t or n.
• Past perfect participles indicate an event in the past that was completed before another activity was begun.
  
  
  Confused? Here are some examples.
  
• Present Participles
  • The crying student asked for extra time for the test.
  • Cry is a verb but an ing has been added so that it can modify the noun, students.
    
• Past Participles
  • Shaken, the students limped away from the Greek test.
  • Shake is a verb that, here, describes the students’ demeanor because of what occurred in the past.
    
• Past Perfect Participles
  • The students partied all night after having passed the Greek test.
  • Having passed shows action occurring and finishing before the present action ( the party).

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