Participles: Definition, Types, Usage and Examples

‘Participles’ – Ever heard of the term? A participle is a form of the verb that can be used to play the role of an adjective as well as a verb form to constitute the different tenses. Initially, when you learn the English language, you will make conscious efforts to learn the names of everything you see around you and words that refer to the actions you perform on a daily basis.

As time goes by, you will start learning a lot of words as you read and listen to day-to-day conversations, informational passages, debates, news and so on. Learning just the verbs will not help; you will have to learn the different verb forms in order to understand and use tenses correctly. In this article, you will get to learn more about what participles are, the different types of participles and how they can be used to form tenses. Also, check out the examples given for a clear understanding of the same.

Table of Contents

• What Are Participles? – Meaning and Definition
• Types of Participles – Forming and Using Them
  • The Present Participle
  • The Past Participle
• Examples of Sentences Using Participles
  • Using Present Participles as Adjectives
  • Using Present Participles to Form Continuous Tenses
  • Using Past Participles as Adjectives
  • Using Past Participles to Form Perfect Tenses
• Check Your Understanding of Participles
• Frequently Asked Questions on Participles

What Are Participles? – Meaning and Definition

A participle refers to the modified form of a verb that in some cases, shows characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. Participles are mainly used in sentences to form the past and perfect tenses.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a participle is defined as “a word formed from a verb, ending in -ing (= the present participle) or -ed, -en, etc.”, and according to the Cambridge Dictionary, it is defined as “a form of a verb, often ending in “-ed” or “-ing” and used with auxiliary verbs to make verb tenses, or to form adjectives”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a participle as “an English verbal form that has the function of an adjective and at the same time shows such verbal features as tense and voice and capacity to take an object”. “A participle”, according to the Collins Dictionary, “is a form of a verb that can be used in compound tenses of the verb. There are two participles in English: the past participle, which usually ends in ‘-ed’, and the present participle, which ends in ‘-ing’.”

Types of Participles – Forming and Using Them

If you have already been accustomed to using the English language regularly, you should be already making use of participles. Whatever be the case, learning how exactly they are formed and the ways in which they can be used will allow you to speak and write error-free sentences. There are two main types of participles and they are,

• The Present Participle and
• The Past Participle

The Present Participle

The present participle is mainly used to form continuous/progressive tenses such as the present continuous tense, the past continuous tense, the future continuous tense, the present perfect continuous tense, the past perfect continuous tense and the future perfect continuous tense. It is used along with the ‘to be’ and ‘have’ form of verbs. They also function as adjectives when used before a noun. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines a present participle as “the form of the verb that in English ends in -ing and is used with the verb to be to form progressive tenses such as I was running or sometimes as an adjective as in running water”.

Forming a present participle does not take much effort as all you have got to do is add ‘ing’ to the end of the main verb. In most cases, you can simply add ‘ing’, but there are times when you will have to remove the ‘e’ before adding ‘ing’ for words ending in ‘e’. There are, however, exceptions in this. Like this, monosyllabic words with a single consonant ending will require you to double the last consonant before adding ‘ing’ and words ending in ‘ie’ will have a change of spelling. Let us look at some examples to understand this better.

Example 1 – Adding ‘ing’ to verbs

• Mourn – Mourning
• Stand – Standing
• Fill – Filling
• Check – Checking
• Collect – Collecting

Example 2 – Removing ‘e’ and Adding ‘ing’

• Prove – Proving
• Care – Caring
• Receive – Receiving
• Bake – Baking
• Make – Making

Example 3: Removing ‘ie’ and Adding ‘y’ + ‘ing’

• Die – Dying
• Tie – Tying
• Lie – Lying

Example 4: Doubling the Last Consonant and Adding ‘ing’

• Sit – Sitting
• Run – Running
• Shop – Shopping
• Swim – Swimming
• Skip – Skipping

Example 5: Retaining the ‘e’ and Adding ‘ing’

• Dye – Dyeing
• Agree – Agreeing
• See – Seeing
• Binge – Bingeing
• Canoe – Canoeing

Example 6: Doubling the Last Consonant of the Second Syllable (Stressed) in Disyllabic Words

• Begin – Beginning
• Refer – Referring
• Admit – Admitting
• Occur – Occurring
• Prefer – Preferring

The Past Participle

The past participle is also used as adjectives when it precedes the noun. Otherwise, they work together with other helping verbs to form the perfect tenses – the present perfect tense, the past perfect tense and the future perfect tense. In perfect continuous tenses also, you will see the past participle form of the verb ‘be’ (been) being used. According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, a past participle is defined as “the form of a verb that in English ends in -ed, -en, etc. and is used with the verb have to form perfect tenses such as I have eaten, with the verb be to form passive sentences such as It was destroyed, or sometimes as an adjective as in an upset stomach”.

In order to be able to use the past participles effectively, you should first know how they are formed. Formation of past participles happens in various ways. Go through the following examples to understand.

Example 1 : Adding ‘ed’ to the End of the Verb

• Strand – Stranded
• Check – Checked
• Bail – Bailed
• Turn – Turned
• Listen – Listened
• Wash – Washed
• Suggest – Suggested

Example 2: Adding ‘d’ to the End of the Verb

• Receive – Received
• Like – Liked
• Apologise – Apologised
• Change – Changed
• Love – Loved
• Remove – Removed

Example 3: Adding ‘ied’ to Verbs Ending in ‘fy’, ‘ry’ and ‘ly’

• Worry – Worried
• Bury – Buried
• Try – Tried
• Cry – Cried
• Carry – Carried
• Supply – Supplied
• Apply – Applied
• Imply – Implied
• Justify – Justified
• Amplify – Amplified

Example 4: Adding ‘n’ to Monosyllabic Words Ending in ‘ow’

• Grow – Grown
• Sow – Sown
• Throw – Thrown

Example 5: Changing ‘i’ to ‘u’ for Monosyllabic Words

• Sing – Sung
• Sink – Sunk
• Stick – Stuck
• Ring – Rung
• Sting – Stung

Example 6: Doubling the Last Consonant and Adding ‘ed’

• Clip – Clipped
• Slip – Slipped
• Focus – Focussed
• Drip – Dripped
• Refer – Referred
• Stop – Stopped
• Grab – Grabbed
• Drop – Dropped
• Tip – Tipped
• Skip – Skipped

Example 7: Irregular Verbs

• Teach – Taught
• Think – Thought
• Bring – Brought
• Fall – Fallen
• Buy – Bought
• Steal – Stolen
• Eat – Eaten
• Tell – Told
• Begin – Begun
• Slide – Slid
• Read – Read
• Speak – Spoken
• Lead – Led
• Wake – Woken
• Find – Found
• Give – Given

Check out the article on irregular verbs for more examples.

Examples of Sentences Using Participles

Now that you know how participles are formed, take a look at the following examples to see how they are used.

Using Present Participles as Adjectives

• I forgot my running shoes.
• Did you buy washing soap?
• Did you add baking soda to your cake batter?
• I think the washing machine has a problem.
• Remya used the sealing tape to close the holes for the time being.

Using Present Participles to Form Continuous Tenses

• Are you taking the medicines regularly?
• We are making progress.
• They will be leaving in some time.
• How long have you been waiting for me?
• I have been trying to find a solution to this.

Using Past Participles as Adjectives

• He has a broken rib.
• The frightened little girl ran to her mother.
• My brother loves roasted meat.
• Your sister seems to be the most loved person here.
• I bought a pair of coloured sunglasses for my brother.

Using Past Participles to Form Perfect Tenses

• I would have loved to see you on my birthday.
• She has worked so hard for this day.
• The children had expected a few games today.
• Nobody knew who had taken the bag.
• We have packed sandwiches for the trip.

Check Your Understanding of Participles

Go through the following sentences and identify the participles.

1. It is better to drink boiled water to avoid getting sick.

2. I got a missed call from my mom.

3. Remya and Ajith have moved to Abu Dhabi.

4. It has been raining all day.

5. We were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. yesterday.

6. My sister is baking cookies for the birthday party.

7. When are you coming home?

8. There is packaged water for everyone.

9. All of us have finished my assignment.

10. Did you buy shaving cream?

Find out if you identified the participles correctly from the answers given below.

1. It is better to drink boiled water to avoid getting sick. – Past participle used as adjective

2. I got a missed call from my mom. – Past participle used as adjective

3. Remya and Ajith have moved to Abu Dhabi. – Past participle used to form the present perfect tense

4. It has been raining all day. – Present participle used to form present perfect continuous tense

5. We were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. yesterday. – Present participle used to form present continuous tense

6. My sister is baking cookies for the birthday party. – Present participle used to form present continuous tense

7. When are you coming home? – Present participle used to perform present continuous tense

8. There is packaged water for everyone. – Past participle used as adjective

9. All of us had finished our assignments. – Past participle used to form the past perfect tense

10. Did you buy shaving cream? – Present participle used as adjective