HUNTER COLLEGE READING/WRITING CENTER
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS
Adjectives and Adverbs: Using Participles as Adjectives
-
A participle is a verb form which can be used as an adjective to
describe a noun.an interesting book
an interested student -
When the present participle (-ing from) is used, the noun it describes is (or was) the
performer of the activity named by the participle. For example, in the sentence
“The dog barks,” the dog is the performer of the action (bark). It is a barking dog. -
When the past participle (-ed, -en form) is used, the noun it describes is (or was)
acted upon. For example, in The child is frightened by the dog, the child is the
receiver of the action and is described as a frightened child. -
The use of the present or past participle does not depend on the verb tense of the
sentence, but rather on the performer/receiver situation.
The dog barks It is a barking dog
The dog barked It was a barking dog
The dog frightens the cat. It is a frightening dog.
The dog frightened the cat. It was a frightening dog.
The problem confuses the students. It is a confusing problem.
The students are confused by the problem. They are confused students.
The story amused the children. It was an amusing story.
The children were amused by the story. They were amused children.
The class bores the students. It is a boring class.
The students are bored by the class. They are bored students. -
The use of participles is not restricted to the subject of a
sentence. In other words, the same statement can produce both a
present (active) and a past (passive) participle.
Examples:
The dog frightens the cat. The frightening dog runs after
the cat.
The frightened cat runs away.
The problem confuses the students. The confusing problem
frightens the students.
They are confused students.
The story amused the children. It was an amusing story.
The amused children laughed a
lot.
The class bores the students. What a boring class it is!
The bored students have
stopped listening to the
teacher.
- Participles used as adjectives often come after the noun they modify, following a linking verb like
Be, Become, or Seem
Mathematics is interesting.
My friends are interested in sports
You seem comfused
Problems often become frustrating.
I am fascinated by my children.
My children quickly became tired at school.
School can be tiring for young children
[Adapted from: Alt & Kirkland, Steps to Composition Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar]
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Hi,
I know like past participles can be used as adjectives.But
is it that every verb’s past participle form can be used as an adjective or some certain kind of verbs only.
For example consider the two verbs connect and kill
1)computer is connected to the internet.
Here connected is used as adjective.
But in the same way can the word “killed” be used.
suppose like a person named Ravi has been killed by somebody.In this context can we say like “Ravi is killed”.
Krishna.
Past Participles as Adjectives
When you are describing a person’s reaction or feeling, or a condition or an action that is completed, use the past participle form (-ed, -en, -d, -t, –n, or irregular ending). The noun described has a passive relationship with something. I was threatened by the mugger. ( I was the one receiving the threat.)
Jennifer’s burned hand hurt her very much. ( The burning of the hand had already happened.)
The broken chair was used for firewood. (The process of breaking was completed in the past. The chair was in ruins.)
Ground lamb makes the best stuffed grape leaves. (The meat is was ground before you make the dish.)
Her recipe called for 12 beaten eggs. (The eggs are beaten before you add them to the other ingredients.)
Nancy found a hidden staircase behind the paneling in the old house. ( The act of hiding the staircase had been done before.)
All the protesters had shaved heads. (The heads were hairless before they began protesting.)
All the words on the test were misspelled by Algie. (The test is over. He isn’t misspelling anything now.)
The book was known to all of us. (We weren’t just finding out about the book. We knew before.)
Gertrude threw out the spoiled meat. (The process of spoiling was done–it was bad meat.)
Laura, fascinated by the movie star, wrote him a letter every day.
Use Present or Past Participles?
If you are unsure, try changing the participle adjective to a participial clause. If it makes sense as a participle clause, it will probably make sense as a participle adjective.
Examples:
Correct: The yowling cats annoyed the whole neighborhood.
Correct: The cats that were yowling annoyed the whole neighborhood.
Incorrect: The yowled cats annoyed the whole neighborhood.
Incorrect: The cats that were yowled annoyed the whole neighborhood.
Yowling works because present participles are similar to active verbs. They are happening now, and the subject is doing the action. Yowled doesn’t work because most past participles are similar to passive verbs. The action is done to the subject by something or someone else. They receive the action. A cat can be fed, but it can’t be yowled.
Some verbs can be used both was in both forms: All of these examples are correct.
The breaking dishes made a mess in the kitchen.
The dishes that were breaking made a mess in the kitchen.
The broken dishes made a mess in the kitchen.
The dishes that were broken made a mess in the kitchen.
Comparing the Meanings of Present and Past Participles used as Adjectives:
Present Participle Adjectives - Ongoing Action
Past Participle Adjectives - Completed Action
A baking cake smells wonderful.
(It is still being baked)
Baked cakes covered the table at the church supper.
(They are finished baking.)
Shining stars covered the night sky.
(They are in the process of shining.)
The stars that had shone last night were covered by clouds tonight. (The stars were not shining tonight)
Falling snow covers the sidewalks.
(It is still snowing.)
Fallen snow covered the sidewalks. (That snow has already fallen.)
Crying children make me nervous. (They are still crying.)
The children who cried made me nervous.
(They have stopped crying.)
Also Note :
Present Participle Adjectives - Cause of feeling
Past Participle Adjectives - Receiver of feeling
Confusing directions were on the exam.
(The directions caused confusion.)
Confused students blamed the directions.
(The students received the confusion from the directions.)
Relaxing music played in the background.
(The music is causing the relaxation.)
Relaxed music makes me sleep.
(The music was written to be calming–someone created it that way.)
An encouraging word is all we need.
(The words “give” encouragement.)
Encouraged by the words, we went on with our work.
(We received the encouragement.)
A tiring speech followed the banquet.
The speech was causing the tiring.)
The tired listeners wanted to go home.
(Something caused the listeners to be tired.)
More Cause/Receive Participles
What is the difference between “He has gone” and " He is gone"?
“Where is Tom?”
“He has gone to Chicago.”
“Where is Tom?”
“He is gone.”
In the first case, “gone” is just the past participle of “go.” In the second case “gone” is an adjective - describing the state of Tom as far as you are concerned.
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
The verb in “He has gone” is the present perfect, “has gone.” In “He is gone,” “gone” is a participial adjective, like “bored,” “excited,” “married.” These adjectives come from verbs.
By themselves, they both mean pretty much the same thing: He is not here. But if you want to add to the sentence, you don’t have your choice of which to use. Example: He has gone to Hawaii. He went there last year. The present perfect expresses unfinished time–he has gone to Hawaii at some time in his life.
If you expect him to be in a room and you discover that he isn’t, you can say, “He is gone.”
Is past particple always an adjective?
GATHERED
Pronunciation (US):
Dictionary entry overview: What does gathered mean?
• GATHERED (adjective)
The adjective GATHERED has 2 senses:
- having accumulated or become more intense
- brought together in one place
Familiarity information: GATHERED used as an adjective is rare.
Me:1. gathered finger
…2. gathered skirt
The free dictionary:GATHERED
brought together in one place; “the collected works of Milton”
“the gathered folds of the skirt”-
#1 (permalink) Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:30 am Choosing the right word (1)
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Let’s start with the verbs for using words:
(a) Speak -
This is the formal one we use like this: How many languages do you speak? I speak English fluently. She speaks a little Italian.
Again when we want to describe what someone is doing but can’t necessarily hear what they are saying: She’s the woman in the red hat speaking to that tall man over there.
For important topics and subjects: If you are free tomorrow afternoon, I’d like to speak to you about my financial investments. I can’t possibly speak to you about what I do for a living because it concerns Government business.
(b) Say:
Mainly used in direct and indirect speech:
‘Go away’, she said.
He said he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up.
© Tell:
Used often with words like ‘story’ or as another form of indirect speech or as a command. It always takes an object:
Samantha wouldn’t go to sleep until her mother had told her a story.
He told the police that he was miles away at the time of the crime.
I told him to stop smoking in the restaurant.
(d) Talk:
An informal word for ‘speak’ - have a conversation:
Children at that age never stop talking.
After the show was over, he left his dressing room and came over to talk to us.
Alan
There’s much to discuss about participles and their uses! Yes, there is overlap between verbs and adjectives. GONE is an example.
- She has gone away, and I don’t know when she’ll return. = GONE in the present perfect (VERB)
- Where’s my necklace? It’s gone! = GONE in a passive construction. I see this more as a predicative adjective.
I think there are different labels we can use, though: stative passive (passive without a by-phrase), non-progressive passive (no action being done or received).
Other examples: He’s married. It’s broken. I’m tired. In these examples, you see that the past participle isn’t just passive OR an adjective. It’s BOTH. Past participles can be used as adjectives in a passive sense. They contrast with the present participles (following, thrilling, amazing).
As for GATHERED, consider these examples:
3. The skirt was cleverly gathered on the side to form a small blossom. = Someone gathered the material together to form that blossom.
4. We are gathered here today. = Something brought us together. Although we can rewrite both ideas in an active sentence, I still think of word GATHERED as a description of a state or condition.
I think we could argue that the past participle here is being used in the stative passive. In #4, the emphasis is not on receiving action. The sentence is about our state. It has the meaning: “We are together here today.”
Remember that verbal adjectives/ participial adjectives can be used as attributive adjectives (gathered skirt) or predicative adjectives(#3). Also: a married woman/ She’s married.*
I think you’d find it useful to look at grammar explanations based on corpus findings. I like to consult the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al., 2007) The LGSWE has a whole section called “Bordeline cases of lexical word class membership.” (2.3.6) Biber et al confirm that there are more attributive uses of participial adjectives than predicative ones, and it can hard to tell the difference between a main verb and a participial adjective used with the linking verb BE.
Gone, disappearing coin magic trick revealed
It was a debate that gone does mean disappearing or not.
This title proves that gone = disappearing.
youtube.com/watch?v=TMxsiVm9PQQ
Hi Jennifer,
Many thanks for your answer. I begin to understand the whole. My question would be what is the difference if I say ‘It is gone ‘ and ‘It has gone.’
Could you tell me synonyms for the each for the other.
I saw a video.
From this video I thought it’s gone means it vanished.
One of my teacher told me:
“It’s GONE
This would usually be understood as meaning “It has gone”.
I answered him:
It’s GONE
This would usually be understood as meaning “It has gone”. or " It is gone"
He answered:
“I watched a part of the video and heard that he said “it’s gone”, that’s all. “It’s GONE redefining vanish” doesn’t make sense to me.”
My last answer was:
“Hello Dozy,
Okay. I don’t want to dispute about this. You think that the magician said a present perfect, I am convinced that he said and the people also said ‘the coin is gone’, or ‘it was gone’ and I think ( I am sorry) that it is an adjectival sentence ( where ‘gone’ isn’t a past part. but an adjective I am convinced that it means ‘it vanished’ -figuratively: it is “dead” than the film explain this expression.)
It seems to me we are both very stubborn.
So I say again PEACE and it is only matter of time.
Once we’ll speak about this again when we settled this in ourselves.
Best wishes:
Kati
Hello Jennifer,
As I saw some videos with magicians who vanished a card etc. do you think I am right when I think ‘It is gone’ means it vanished.
I remember a novel that we had read when I used to be young.
Gone with the wind.
Many thanks for your answer.
Regards.
Kati svaby
englishwithjennifer Says:
December 16, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Hi again Kati,
Well, I agree that IT’S GONE (= it is gone) in the context of the magic trick refers to the state/ condition of the coin, so GONE is a past participle being used to describe. That means it’s functioning as a participial adjective. It’s the same as saying something is broken. The meaning is passive, but the emphasis isn’t on receiving an action. It’s non-progressive/ stative passive, and the focus is on a state/ condition. Perhaps other teachers can chime in here. I see some overlap between verbs and adjectives, but semantics usually help us decide. GONE is not refering to an action, but rather a state in this example. For me, that’s the bottom line.
More examples to consider:
- The plane has already taken off. = TAKEN (part of present perfect, action)
- The plane has just landed. = LANDED (part of present perfect, action)
- Oh no! The plane isn’t at the gate anymore. It’s gone. Did I miss my flight? = GONE (participial adjective, part of predicate, refers back to “it” – the plane, describes state)
- Where’s Martha? – She’s gone to her parents’ home for the weekend. She’ll return on Monday. = GONE (part of present perfect, “has gone to (where)” = she went (where) Note: I think in American English, it would be more natural to say, “She went to her parents’ for the weekend.” OR “She went to visit/ stay with her parents for the weekend.”
Hope this helps!
Kati Svaby Says:
December 17, 2011 at 10:42 am
Hello Jennifer,
Many thanks for your answer. There are still lot of things what I don’t know in the English Grammar. I have to say that the grammar is always was exciting for me. So I rather know the grammar of my mother tongue and the French grammar. I think you won’t wonder when I say that I know the grammar of my mother tongue, because you know better than me that who can speak without mistakes it isn’t certain that he/she knows the rules of grammar.
So it is easy to remain without help when you can’t explain what you think.
Many thanks that you explained me what I wanted to explain but nobody wanted to understand me.
It was a ‘déjà vu’ story in my life. I used to go to high school when our form-master – who was a teacher of Hungarian,- he wanted that one of my classmates – who was the best at math – coached his pupils. I was also good at math but she was the best. And there was a math-problem and she said a solution. And I said that it isn’t good. Nobody believed me. But I was sure of my solution. As I was persistent my poor form-master called the math teacher to do justice. At that time I felt this feeling then I read your solution:” so GONE is a past participle being used to describe.”
Again many thanks, and I won’t disturb you. I had to learn lot, and watch your videos.
Best regards:
Kati Svaby