What is a Participle?

A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed. They function as adjectives, thus participles modify nouns or pronouns.

Types of Participles

There are two participles in the English language: the present and past participle.

Present Participle

This is a very simple concept as to create the present participle one must simply add the letters -ing to the verb stem. This shows that something is happening right now. For example I am leaving the house or The cat is lying on the rug.

Past Participle

Similarly to the present participle, the past participle shows time, in this case that something has already happened-or has happened in the past. In order to create the past participle, one must add the letters -ed to the verb stem. For example the sentence I decide what happens would become I decided what happens.

Despite the addition of -ed being the regular form of past participle, there are some irregular verbs which do not follow this pattern. Some examples of this are as follows:

• to show – shown
• to see – seen
• to built – built
• to feel – felt

The Present Participle Image

The Past Participle Image