BITOLA FACULTY OF EDUCATION

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY

PROGRAMME

MEL 3 COURSE

NON-FINITES
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PARTICIPLES
by Senior EFL & Translation Instructor
Stela Bosilkovska, MA & MCI
 WHAT IS A PARTICIPLE
• In traditional English grammar, a participle is a verbal that typically ends in -ing
(the present participle) or -ed (the past participle). Adjective: participial.

• By itself, a participle can function as an adjective (as in "the sleeping baby" or

"the damaged pump"). In combination with one or more auxiliary verbs, a
participle can indicate tense, aspect, or voice.

• Present participles end in -ing (for example, carrying, sharing, tapping). Past
participles of regular verbs end in -ed (carried, shared, tapped). Past participles
of irregular verbs have various endings, most often -n or -t (broken, spent).

• As linguists have long observed, both of these terms—present and past—are

misleading. "[B]oth [present and past] participles are used in the formation of a
variety of complex constructions (tenses) and can . . . refer to past, present, or
future time (e.g., 'What had they been doing?' 'This must be drunk soon').
Preferred terms are -ing form (which also includes gerund) and -ed form/-en
form" (Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2014).
 THE FORMS OF THE PARTICIPLE

Active Passive

Present participle writing being written

Perfect participle having written having been written
Past participle written written
 PRESENT PARTICIPLE

The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the base form of the verb.

The present participle does not in itself indicate the time of the action that it refers to.
However, it does show that this time is the same as the time of the preceding verb or the
verb in the main clause:

 I watched the storm approaching. (approaching refers to the same time as watched: I
watched as the storm was approaching.)
 Having nowhere to sit, she stood in the back of the lecture hall. (having refers to the
same time as stood: As she had nowhere to sit, she stood in the back of the lecture hall.)
 Are you waiting for the bus? (waiting refers to the same time as are: present)
 We will be arriving in Prague soon. (arriving refers to the same time as will be: future)
 PERFECT PARTICIPLE

The perfect participle indicates that the time of the action that it refers to is
before that of the verb in the main clause:

 Having taken the wrong turn, he ended up in a dangerous neighbourhood.

(having taken refers to a time before ended up: After he had taken the
wrong turn, he ended up in a dangerous neighbourhood.)
 PAST PARTICIPLE
The past participle is also called the third form of the verb. With regular verbs, the past participle is formed by adding -ed to the
base form. A number of verbs have irregular past participle forms. A few examples are: bite » bitten; fly » flown; hit » hit; swim
» swum

The past participle can refer to the same time as the verb in the main clause or to a time before that:

 Sue has all the qualifications required for the job. (required refers to the same time as has: Sue has all the qualifications that
are required for the job.)
 Damaged badly by the flood, the school had to be rebuilt. (damaged refers to a time before had to: As the school had been
badly damaged by the flood, it had to be rebuilt.)

If we want to emphasise an earlier time, we use the passive perfect participle:

 Having been nominated three times for an Oscar, he is one of today's most acclaimed film directors. (He has been nominated
three times for an Oscar, and he is one of today's most acclaimed film directors.)

The past participle can have an active or a passive meaning. When used with a passive meaning, it is sometimes called the
passive participle:

 The fallen leaves covered the garden path. (the leaves that had fallen, active meaning)
 The retired professor lives alone. / This is my pal. Sorry to get you involved, but he is an escaped prisoner, and I need help to
hide him. (a prisoner on the run)
 This is the first time I've been here. (present perfect tense in active voice, active meaning)
 There was a handwritten note on the table. (a note that had been written by hand, passive meaning)
 When was the last time the lawn was mowed? (past simple tense in passive voice, passive meaning)
 THE "SUBJECT" OF THE PARTICIPLE

The doer of the action expressed by the participle is usually the subject of the sentence or the main clause:
A dog was barking in the distance.
How often do you go swimming?
Grumbling to himself, Ted left the room. Ted was grumbling while leaving the room.
Having seen the film before, I didn't feel like going to the cinema.
The car was parked outside the building.
Taken daily, these pills can be highly effective.
Have you ever tried skiing?
In participle clauses, it can lead to confusion if the understood subject of the participle is not the subject of
the main clause. This is called a misrelated participle:
?While going home, a bus almost ran over me.
This suggests that the bus was going home. If we mean that I was going home, we have to make the
first person singular pronoun I the subject of the main clause:
While going home, I got almost run over by a bus.
In some cases, however, the subjects can be different without the chance of misunderstanding:
Considering what she has been through, she is doing well. (If we consider what she has been through...)
Judging from his accent, he is from New York. (As I judge from his accent...)
The doer of the action expressed by the participle can also be the noun or pronoun preceding it:
I heard him singing in the bathroom.
Who is the girl sitting next to you in class?
Our car having broken down, we had to take a taxi home.
 THE USE OF THE PARTICIPLE

The present participle is used to form

• the continuous aspect
• the perfect aspect
• the passive voice
The present and past participles are used as adjectives:
• active
• passive
And after the verbs:
• SEE, WATCH, HEAR, LISTEN, FEEL, SMELL, NOTICE, OBSERVE + object +
present participle
• CATCH, FIND, LEAVE, HAVE, GET + object + present participle
• COME, GO + present participle
• SPEND, WASTE + object + present participle
• HAVE, GET + object + past participle
 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENDANCE
AND ATTENTION

Continuation follows
Sources:
 https://www.grammaring.com/the-participle
 https://www.thoughtco.com/participle-verb-form-1691586
 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/participle-clauses
 https://www.grammarly.com/blog/participle/
 https://grammartop.com/verbs-participles/