There are two types of Participles in English:

♦ Past Participles   &   ♦ Continuous ( … ing) Participles  

If you can remember the following Three Facts about Participles, your English will immediately improve. 

1.  Participles can be Parts of Verbs.

2.  Participles can be ADJECTIVES.

3.  Participles can be NOUNS.

This week, I am starting with 1. Participles can be Parts of Verbs.

 

Check next week for 2. Participles can be ADJECTIVES, & 3. Participles can be NOUNS.

1.  Participles can be Parts of Verbs.

This is probably how you first learned about Participles ∼ as Parts of Verbs! Let’s have a look at how we use Past Participles and Continuous Participles as Parts of Verbs:

Past Participles

Past Participles are only used in Perfect Tenses. There are 6 Perfect Tenses.

♦ Present Perfect: I haven’t finished* my Christmas shopping yet.

♦ Present Prefect Continuous: I have been planning this year’s Christmas dinner since last Christmas.

♦ Past Perfect: When I got home from work yesterday, I didn’t have to cook my dinner because my husband had already cooked* it. Hoorah!

♦ Past Perfect Continuous: He told me that he had been cooking for two hours.

♦Future Perfect: By the time everyone arrives for Christmas dinner this year, I will have prepared* enough food for a week!  

♦ Future Perfect Continuous:
In February, my son (who always comes home for Christmas) will have been living in Sydney for eight years.

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* Note that the words finished, cooked, and, prepared are participles in the above sentences. In Past Simple sentences, they are the only verb, so they are not Participles. Also, they are regular verbs so the Past Simple form and the Past Participle form have the same spelling, ending in ‘ed’. As always, you need to look at how words are used in a sentence. 

My husband cooked dinner last night. (cooked = Past Simple)

He prepared the meat before he cooked the vegetables. (prepared, cooked = Past Simple)

He  finished at 6 o’clock. ( finished  = Past Simple)

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Continuous Participles

* Continuous Participles are sometimes called Present Participles although they are not Present Tense. In fact, they have no tense.

Continuous Participles are only used in Continuous Tenses. There are 6 Continuous Tenses.

♦ Present Continuous: “I’ll just tell them you’re sleeping.”

♦ Present Perfect Continuous: I have been writing posts for this website since April 2013.

♦ Past Continuous: I was writing this post last night when my phone rang.

♦ Past Perfect Continuous: I was relieved that I didn’t have to cook dinner last night as I had been standing at work all day.

♦Future Continuous: At this time tomorrow, I will be teaching English to my lovely students.

♦ Future Perfect Continuous: In April 2018, I will have been writing Posts for this Website for five years.

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* Did you notice that 3 Tenses  use both a Past Participle and a Present Participle? They are: Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, and Future Perfect Continuous. This is because these 3 Tenses are Perfect and Continuous at the same time:

♦ Present Prefect Continuous:

I have been planning this year’s Christmas dinner since last Christmas.

I have been writing posts for this website since April 2013.

 

♦ Past Perfect Continuous:

He told me that he had been cooking for two hours.

I was relieved that I didn’t have to cook dinner last night as I had been standing at work all day.

 

♦ Future Perfect Continuous:

In February, my son will have been living in Sydney for eight years.

In April 2018, I will have been writing Posts for this Website for five years.

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How to a make a Verb

Every sentence must have a complete verb. In Present Simple Tense and Past Simple Tense only, a complete verb can be just one word:

Charlie Brown loves his dog Snoopy.  loves = Present Simple Tense

I went to a Christmas party last night.  went = Past Simple Tense

*** However, when a verb is made of two or more words,  each word is only a PART of the verb. A part of something cannot be the whole, complete thing, can it? Imagine ordering a hamburger in a restaurant and the waiter brings you only half a hamburger! You would say, “Where’s the rest of the burger?” This is what you need to say when you see only part of a verb! “Where’s the rest of the verb?”

Half a hamburger + half a hamburger = One complete burger.

Look at the examples below of multi-word verbs and see what happens when ‘part’ of the verb is all that you can see.  Participles need help to become complete verbs. They need auxiliary (helper) verbs.

Helper verb/s + Participle/s = One Complete Verb.

A complete verb can be two, three or four words. Think of them as one verb, one unit. If one or more words are missing, you are left with only a part or parts!

I have been to three parties this month.
I been to three parties this month.   

What are the men in the picture below doing?
What the men in the picture below doing?

A complete verb can be three words:

I have been writing posts for this website since April 2013.
I been writing posts for this website since April 2013.

The men in the picture below will have finished their business at the Pushkar Fair by next week.
The men in the picture below finished their business at the Pushkar Fair by next week.

A complete verb can be four words:

In April 2018, I will have been writing Posts for this Website for five years.
In April 2018, I been writing Posts for this Website for five years.

 

For more information on the 12 English Tenses, click here.

For a VISUAL Guide to the easy steps in conjugating the 12 English Tenses, check out my book, Understanding English Verbs available from Amazon:

For more information on ‘ing’ Participles as Parts of Verbs, click here  and here. 

For practice exercises, click here. 

For more information on Past Participles as Parts of Verbs, click here.

Check next week for:

2.  Participles can be ADJECTIVES.

3.  Participles can be NOUNS.

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