In linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium 'a sharing, partaking'; abbr. ptcp) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, participle has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective, as in a laughing face". "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 participium, from particeps 'sharing, participation', because it shares certain properties of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The Latin grammatical term is a calque of the Greek grammatical term μετοχή : metochē, 'participation, participle'. 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 c. 1864 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 participial phrase/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 Russian and other Slavic languages, Hungarian, and many Eskimo languages, such as Sirenik, 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). The traditional terms are misleading because the participles do not necessarily correspond to tense: 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. 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
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