Participles, Definitions and Example Sentences

English Participles, Definitions and Example Sentences

Participles

Participles are known as adjective verbs. They are words derived from the verb and used as nouns and adjectives. In English, it’s divided into three different groups: Past Participle, Present Participle and Perfect Participle.

Present Participle: V + -ing

The verb in gerund form. In the Present Participle form, the verb only takes the –ing tag and continues to retain its verb feature completely.



Places of Use

1 – Describes or shortens one of the two actions taken at the same time by the same subject. For example:

• He was sitting by the fire and he was drinking milk.

 

The Present Participle version of this sentence is as follows:

• Sitting by the fire, he was drinking milk or drinking milk, he was sitting by the fire.
• We walked along the river and we whistled as we were walking.

The Present Participle version of this sentence is as follows:

• Walking along the river, we whistled or whistling, we walked along the river.

 

2 – Describes or shortenes the previous action from 2 actions taken by the same subject one after the other. For example:

• John took the action movie out of the camera and developed it.

The Present Participle form of this sentence:

• Taking the film out of the camera, John developed it.
• Tom opened the drawer and got gun.

The Present Participle form of this sentence:

• Opening the drawer, Tom got gun.
• Emma picked up the telephone and dialed the number.

The Present Participle form of this sentence:

• Picking up the telephone, Emma dialed the number.
• Taking out her book, the policeman asked some questions.

3 – Since – Because – Abbreviates As and the next sentence. For example:

• Because you felt tired, you went to bed early. -> Feeling tired, you went to bed early.
• As Melina is unemployed, Melina does not have much Dollars. -> Being unemployed, Melina does not have much Dollars.
• Since Fatty is the youngest child, she is her mother’s favourite. -> Being the youngest child, she is her mother’s favourite.

Note: We can use two participants one after another. However, we have to bring another sentence behind them.



For examples;

• As he did not know another language and did not have any friends there, she did not want to stay in the London. -> Not knowing another language and not having any friends there, she did not want to stay in the London.

4 – Shortens the active structure in adjective clauses. For example;

• The boys who attend this school must wear school uniforms. -> The boys attending this school must wear school uniforms.

5 – Shortens the sentences formed with While and When. For example;

Angelina hurt her leg while she was playing basketball. -> Angelina hurt her leg (while) playing basketball.

Past Participle: V3

1 – Describes the passive of two actions simultaneously. For example;

Amrilno went into the room and three guards accompanied her. -> Accompanied by three guards, she went into the room. (Present Participle) -> Being accompanied by three guards, she went into the room.

2 – Since – Because – As and the subsequent passive shortens the structure. For example;

• Because his rejected her, she got angry. -> Rejected by his, she got angry.
• As she was convinced that we were going to prison her, she refused to eat anything. -> Convinced that we were going to prison her, she refused to eat anything.

Perfect Participle: HAVING + V3

1 – Describes what happened before two different actions performed one after the other by the same subject and emphasizes that the action is over. For example;

After she had finished her homework, she went out. -> (After) Having finished her homework, she went out.

2 – Because – Since – As. It is used instead of a sentence containing followed by Perfect Tense. For example;

Because you had seen his before, you could easily recognized his. -> Having seen his before, you could easily recognized his.

 

V1 V2 V3 List in English;

Present – V1	Past – V2	Past participle – V3
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt

Present – V1	Past – V2	Past participle – V3
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written