In linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking") is a derivative of a non-finite verb, which can be used in compound tenses or voices, or as a modifier. Participles often share properties with other parts of speech, in particular adjectives and nouns.
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In linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking") is a derivative of a non-finite verb, which can be used in compound tenses or voices, or as a modifier. Participles often share properties with other parts of speech, in particular adjectives and nouns.
Participles in Modern English
English verbs have two participles:
- called variously the present, active, imperfect, or progressive participle, is identical in form to the gerund, and indeed the term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund. The term gerund-participle is also used.
- called variously the past, passive, or perfect participle, is usually identical to the verb's preterite (past tense) form, though in irregular verbs the two usually differ.
Examples of participle formation include:
The present participle in English is active. It has the following uses:
- forming the progressive aspect: Jim was sleeping.
- modifying a noun: Let sleeping dogs lie.
- modifying a verb or sentence: Broadly speaking, the project was successful.
The present participle in English has the same form as the gerund, but the gerund acts as a noun rather than a verb or a modifier. The word sleeping in Your job description does not include sleeping is a gerund and not a present participle.
The past participle has both active and passive uses:
- forming the perfect aspect: The chicken has eaten.
- forming the passive voice: The chicken was eaten.
- modifying a noun, active sense: our fallen comrades
- modifying a noun, passive sense: the attached files
- modifying a verb or sentence, passive sense: Seen from this perspective, the problem presents no easy solution.
As noun-modifiers, participles usually precede the noun (like adjectives), but in many cases they can or must follow it:
- Please bring all the documents required.
- The difficulties encountered were nearly insurmountable.
Sireniki Eskimo
Sireniki Eskimo language, an extinct Eskimo-Aleut language, has separate sets of adverbial participles and adjectival participles. Interestingly, adverbial participles are conjugated to reflect the person and number of their implicit subjects; hence, while in English a sentence like "If I were a marksman, we would kill walrus" requires two full clauses (in order to distinguish the two verbs' different subjects), in Sireniki Eskimo one of these may be replaced with an adverbial participle (since its conjugation will indicate the subject).
