verbs have two participles. One, called variously the present, active, imperfect, or progressive participle, is identical to the gerund, and indeed the term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund. The term gerund-participle is also used. The other participle, called variously the future, past, or perfect progressive, is usually identical to the verb's preterite (past tense) form, though in irregular verbs the two usually differ. Examples of participle formation include:
Verb Preterite
(past) Past
Participle Present
Participle Regular/
Irregular
talk talked talking regular
hire hired hiring
do did done doing irregular
say said saying
eat ate eaten eating
write wrote written writing
beat beat beaten beating
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.
* functioning as a noun (see gerund): Your job description does not include sleeping past noon.
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 (certain intransitive verbs only): our fallen comrades
* modifying a noun, passive sense: the attached files
* modifying a verb or sentence, passive sense: Seen from this perspective, there is 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.
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