Participles (Part 1) Verbs Acting as Adjectives

There are two basic ideas to know about participles.   In this article, I will talk about how they act as adjectives. 

But first I want to give a very basic, easy, and simple definition.

A participle is formed by changing the base of a verb so that it can either act as an adjective or express time (or tense). (Doug Hiltz)

Working as adjectives they often will end in “ing” or “ed”.   You might find them as a single word or as part of a phrase (group of words).   Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between the participle (which can be a single word or a phrase) and the verb in the sentence, however, if you take out the participle the sentence still makes sense.   

Let’s look at some examples.

The waddling duck ate crumbs from the ground.   (The verb waddle which describes the motion ducks make when they walk, has been transformed by adding “ing”.   In this case, waddling is acting as an adjective because it is describing or giving more information about the noun.   If you think this is the verb, you can test the idea by taking it out of the sentence to see if the sentence still makes sense.   And it does.    The other candidate for a verb in the sentence is “ate”.    If “ate” is taken out of the sentence then you have a nonsensical sentence.) 

The battered bike was thrown into the canal.   (“Battered is the participle.  It is acting as an adjective, but ending in “ed”).

While riding his motorcycle, Greg stopped at every coffee shop in town.  (“While riding his motorcycle” is a participial phrase.    It can be taken away and the sentence still makes sense.)

If you have any questions leave a comment or send me an email at doug@English-With-Doug.com.