In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms More narrowly, participle has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective, as in a laughing face".Crystal, David. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
"Participle" is a traditional grammatical term from Greek and Latin that is widely used for corresponding verb forms in European languages and analogous forms in Sanskrit and Arabic grammar. In particular, Greek and Latin participles are inflected for gender, number and case, but also conjugated for tense and voice and can take prepositional and adverbial modifiers.
Cross-linguistically, participles may have a range of functions apart from adjectival modification. In European and Indian languages, the past participle is used to form the passive voice. In English, participles are also associated with periphrastic verb forms (continuous and perfect) and are widely used in adverbial clauses. In non-Indo-European languages, 'participle' has been applied to forms that are alternatively regarded as converbs (see Sirenik below), gerunds, gerundives, transgressives, and nominalised verbs in complement clauses. As a result, 'participles' have come to be associated with a broad variety of syntactic constructions.
Etymology
The word participle comes from classical Latin , from 'sharing, participation', because it shares certain properties of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The Latin grammatical term is a calque of the Greek grammatical term : , 'participation, participle'.Oxford English Dictionary, s.v.
The linguistic term, past participle, was coined circa 1798 based on its participial form, whose morphology equates to the regular form of preterite verbs. The term, present participle, was first used to facilitate grammatical distinctions. Despite the taxonomical use of "past" and "present" as associated with the aforementioned participles, their respective semantic use can entail any tense, regardless of aspect, depending on how they are structurally combined.
Forms Some languages have extensive participial systems but English has only two participial forms, most commonly termed: past participle, which is regularly formed with an -ed suffix (e.g. looked, ended, tutored) but has numerous irregular forms (e.g. broken, spoken, eaten); and present participle, which is formed with an -ing suffix (e.g. breaking, making, understanding). Some grammars further distinguish passive participles as often associated with passive voice versus active participles as often associated with e.g. the present progressive tense, but such linguistic distinctions are neither recognized nor employed on a universal basis.
Types
Participles can be used adjectivally (i.e. without characteristics of canonical verbs) as attributive adjectives. Unlike standard verbs, participles don’t typically have objects or the usual modifiers that verbs have. However, they can be modified by adverbs such as very or slightly. The difference is illustrated by the following examples: The subject interesting him is Greek history. Greek history is an interesting subject. Greek history is a very interesting subject.
In the first sentence, interesting functions transitively in a non-finite sense as a participle that expresses the object him, thereby forming the grammatical equivalent of "[that is] interesting him". In the second and third sentences, interesting functions as a prepositive adjective modifying subject. An adverb (such as very or recently) or a prefix (such as un-) can preface adjectival participles: "a very frightened rabbit", "recently fallen leaves", "uninterested people".
Some languages differentiate adjectival participles and adverbial participles. An adverbial participle (or a /clause based on such a participle) plays the role of an adverbial phrase in the sentence in which it appears, whereas an adjectival participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on one) plays the role of an adjective phrase. Such languages include RussianThe Russian Participles. Part of "An Interactive On-line Reference Grammar — Russian" by Dr. Robert Beard. and other Slavic languages, Hungarian, and many Eskimo languages, such as Sirenik,Menovshchikov, G.A.: Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1964. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь. Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания. Москва • Ленинград, 1964 which has a sophisticated participle system. Details can be found in the sections below or in the articles on the grammars of specific languages.
Grammatical descriptions vary in the way these are treated. Some descriptive grammars treat such adverbial and adjectival participles as distinct lexical categories, while others include them both in a single category of participles. Adverbial participles in certain languages may be called converbs, gerunds, or gerundives (though this is not consistent with the meanings of the terms gerund or gerundive as normally applied to English or Latin), or transgressives.
Tense Participles are often used to form certain grammatical tenses or grammatical aspects. The two types of participle in Modern English are termed present participle and past participle, respectively (often also referred to as the -ing form and -ed/-en form).Crystal, David. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.), pp. 351-352. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. The traditional terms are misleading because the participles do not necessarily correspond to tense:Huddleston, Rodney. (2002). In Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey K. Pullum (Eds.), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (pp. 78-81). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. the present participle is often associated with the progressive (continuous) aspect, while the past participle is linked with the perfect aspect or passive voice. See the examples below:
They were just standing there. By the time you get home, I will have cleaned the house.Hewings, Martin. (2005). Future continuous and future perfect (continuous). In Advanced Grammar in Use (2nd ed.), p. 22. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
The first sentence is in the past tense (were), but a present participle expresses the progressive aspect (be standing). The second sentence is in the future tense (will), but a past participle is used for the perfect aspect (have cleaned).
Voice Participles may also be identified with a particular voice: active or passive. Some languages (such as Latin and Russian) have distinct participles for active and passive uses. In English, the present participle is essentially an active participle, and the past participle has both active and passive uses.
The following examples illustrate those concepts: I saw John eating his dinner. (Here eating is an active present participle). The bus has gone. (Here gone is an active past participle). The window was broken with a rock. (Here broken is a passive past participle)
Indo-European languages
Germanic languages
Early English In Old English, past participles of Germanic strong verbs were marked with a prefix, a West Germanic feature still found in most strong and weak past participles in Dutch and German today, and often by a vowel change in the stem. Those of weak verbs were marked by the ending , with or without an epenthetic vowel before it. Modern English past participles derive from these forms (although the prefix, which became in Middle English, has now been lost — except in some rare dialects such as the Dorset dialect, where it takes the form of a-).
Old English present participles were marked with an ending in (or for verbs whose infinitives ended in ).
Middle English In Middle English, the form of the present participle varied across regions: (southwest, southeast, Midlands), (southwest, southeast), (north), (southeast). The last is the one that became standard, falling together with the suffix used to form verbal nouns. See -ing (etymology).
Modern English Modern English includes two traditional terms for its participles:Quirk et al., 3.9 The present participle, also sometimes called the active, imperfect, or progressive participle, takes the ending -ing, for example doing, seeing, working, running, breaking, understanding. It is identical in form to the verbal noun and gerund (see below). The term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund;For example, Quirk et al., 4.12. the term "gerund–participle" is also used to indicate the verb form. The past participle, also sometimes called the passive or perfect participle, is identical to the past tense form (ending in -ed) in the case of regular verbs, for example "loaded", "boiled", "mounted", but takes various forms in the case of irregular verbs, such as done, sung, written, broken, understood, put, gone, etc.
In addition, various compound participles can be formed, such as having done, being done, having been doing, having been done.Quirk et al., 3.15.
Details of participle formation can be found under English verbs and List of English irregular verbs.
Participles, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from them, are used as follows:
1. As an adjective used in an attributive sense: A broken window (i.e., one that has been broken) An interesting book (i.e., one that interests) An exciting adventure (i.e., one that excites) The attached files (i.e., those that are attached) A fallen tree (i.e., one that has fallen) Our fallen comrades (i.e., those who have fallen)
Additionally, participles that express an adjectivally attributive meaning can be affixed to form adverbs, such as interestingly and excitedly.
2. In postpositive phrases. These are often regarded as functioning as a reduced relative clause: A window broken by the wind (A window that was broken by the wind). A woman wearing a red hat (A woman who was wearing a red hat). The man standing over there is my uncle (The man who is standing over there is my uncle). We are a people clamoring for freedom (We are a people who are clamoring for freedom).
3. In an adverbial phrase. In the following, the subject is understood to be the same as that of the main clause: Reviewing her bank statement, Ann started to cry (While she reviewed her bank statement, Ann started to cry). Having reviewed the bank statement, Ann started to cry (After she reviewed her bank statement, Ann started to cry). He shot the man, killing him (He shot the man and killed him). Maintained properly, wooden buildings can last for centuries (If/when they are maintained properly, wooden buildings can last for centuries).
With a different subject, placed before the participle: He and I having reconciled our differences, the project then proceeded smoothly (Because/after he and I had reconciled our differences, the project proceeded smoothly). (This is known as the nominative absolute construction.)
More generally as a part of an adverb: Broadly speaking, the project was successful.
4. Participles are used to form periphrastic verb tenses:
The present participle forms the progressive aspect with the auxiliary verb be:
Jim was sleeping.
The past participle forms the perfect aspect with the auxiliary verb have:
The chicken has eaten.
5. The past participle is used to form passive voice: The chicken was eaten. Such passive participles can appear in an adjectival phrase: The chicken eaten by the children was contaminated. Adverbially: Eaten in this manner, the chicken presents no problem. And in a nominative absolute construction, with a subject: The chicken eaten, we returned home.