The Participle

THE PARTICIPLE

A participle is that form of the verb which partakes of the nature of both a verb and a adjective, is called a participle. It may be called a verbal adjective.

A participle is a word which is partly a verb and partly an adjective.

Study the following adjective:

1.     We met a girl carrying a basket of flower.

2.     Loudly knocking at the gate, he demanded admission.

Sentence 1, -ing, form verb represents an action as going on or incomplete or imperfect. If the verb form which it comes is transitive, it takes an object.

Sentence 2, the participle is modified by an adverb.

Besides present participle, we can form from each verb another participle called its past participle, which represents a completed action or state of the thing spoken of.

Examples of past participles:

Blinded by a dust storm, they fell into disorder.

Deceived by his friends, he lost all hope.

Driven by hunger, he stole a piece of bread.

It will be noticed that the past participle usually ends in –ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n.

Besides these two simple participles the present and the past, we have what is called a perfect participle that represents an action as completed at some past time. As-

Having rested, we continued our journey.

In the following examples the participles are used as simple qualifying adjectives in front of a noun, thus used they are called participle adjectives:-

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

We had a drink of the sparkling water.

He played a losing game.

A burnt child dreads the fire.

He wears a worried look.

Used adjectivally the past participle is passive in meaning, while the present participle is active in meaning; as-

A spent swimmer = a swimmer who is tried out

A burnt child = a child who is burnt

A painted doll = a doll which is painted

A rolling stone = a stone which rolls

Let us now recapitulate what we have already learnt about the participle:

i.                   A participle is a verbal adjective

ii.                 Like a verb it may govern a noun or pronoun; as- hearing the noise, the boy woke up.

iii.              Like a verb it may be modified by an adverb; as- Loudly knocking at the gate, he demanded admission.

iv.              Like an adjective it may qualify a noun or pronoun; as- Having rested, we continued our journey.

v.                 Like an adjective it may be compared; as- Education is the most pressing need of our time.