participle

Everyday

1. A participle is a form of a verb used to make tenses or used like an adjective. tree →
2. The present participle ends in «-ing»: running, eating, singing. tree →
3. The past participle often ends in «-ed», «-en» or has a special form: walked, eaten, sung, gone. tree →

In the lessons

In English grammar lessons participles help make tenses: «I am running» (present participle), «I have eaten» (past participle), «The window was broken» (passive). They also act like adjectives: «a crying baby», «a broken toy». In SATs grammar tests pupils are asked to find or use them. Phrases: «present participle», «past participle», «participle phrase».

Examples

• In «She is singing», singing is the present participle. tree →
• In «I have finished my homework», finished is the past participle. tree →
• The past participle of «go» is «gone». tree →
• «A broken window» uses the past participle as an adjective. tree →
• Write the past participle of «write»: written. tree →
• Some verbs have odd participles, such as swim, swam, swum. tree →
• «Running late, we jumped in the car» starts with a participle phrase. tree →

Note

Countable. Irregular verbs have past participles you must learn (see, saw, seen; take, took, taken). Trap: «I have went» is wrong in Standard English; it is «I have gone». Another trap: «I seen it» uses the participle without «have»; Standard English is «I saw it» or «I have seen it».

In Jewish tradition

In English grammar lessons participles help make tenses: «I am running» (present participle), «I have eaten» (past participle), «The window was broken» (passive). They also act like adjectives: «a crying baby», «a broken toy». In SATs grammar tests pupils are asked to find or use them. Phrases: «present participle», «past participle», «participle phrase».

Examples

• The first is clearly the root שָׁכַב shakhav ‘to lie, lie down’, but שכובה looks like a passive participle, shekhuvah, while shakhav is normally an intransitive verb not amenable to being made passive. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →

Note

Countable. Irregular verbs have past participles you must learn (see, saw, seen; take, took, taken). Trap: «I have went» is wrong in Standard English; it is «I have gone». Another trap: «I seen it» uses the participle without «have»; Standard English is «I saw it» or «I have seen it».