Question

Look at the verb in italics and say whether it is a Gerund or Participle:

The ship has made a saving voyage.

• A. Present Participle
• B. Past Participle
• C. Gerund
• D. None of the above

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Present Participle

A participle is formed from a verb, it functions as a verb as well as an adjective, for example, 'Hearing the chirping of the birds, the girl woke up', 'hearing' acts as a verb 'to hear' and an adjective, modifying the noun 'girl'. A gerund is also formed from verbs and end in -ing, but they function as a noun, instead of an adjective, for example, 'I love golfing', 'golfing' is a gerund, and refers to an action 'to golf' as well as a noun, the game 'golf'. In the sentence, 'saving' acts as a verb and an adjective, it modifies the noun 'voyage', hence it's a participle and not a gerund. Hence option C is incorrect. Present participles perform an action in the present tense, 'saving' represents an action that's going on as opposed to past participles which represent an action that has been completed in the past. Past participles end in -ed, -d, -t, -en or -n, for example 'driven', 'mistaken'. Hence option A is correct and B is incorrect. Option D s incorrect because we do have a correct option, A.