Participles for Children

Participle

Participles are verb forms that can function as adjectives or parts of verb phrases in a sentence. In English, there are two main types of participles: the present participle and the past participle.

Present Participle:

The present participle is formed by adding "-ing" to the base form of the verb. It is used to describe actions that are ongoing or happening at the same time as the main verb in the sentence.

For example:

Running water (describes the water)
The singing birds (describes the birds)
He is eating lunch (part of the verb phrase "is eating")

Past Participle:

The past participle is usually formed by adding "-ed," "-d," or irregular endings to the base form of the verb. It is used to describe actions that are completed or have already happened. For regular verbs, the past participle often ends in "-ed."

For example:

Baked bread (describes the bread)
The broken window (describes the window)
She has finished her work (part of the verb phrase "has finished")

Function as Adjectives:

Participles, both present and past, can function as adjectives in a sentence, modifying nouns to provide additional information about them.

For example:

The barking dog (present participle modifying "dog")
The painted house (past participle modifying "house")
The excited children (past participle modifying "children")

Function in Verb Phrases:

Participles can also be used as part of verb phrases to indicate continuous or perfect aspects. In these cases, they are combined with auxiliary verbs (such as "is," "was," "has," "had") to form verb phrases.

For example:

He is cooking dinner. (Present participle "cooking" with the auxiliary verb "is")
They had finished their homework. (Past participle "finished" with the auxiliary verb "had")

Irregular Past Participles:

Some verbs have irregular past participles, which do not follow the "-ed" pattern.

For example:

Broken (from break)
Written (from write)
Taken (from take)

Participial Phrases:

Participles can also be accompanied by modifiers or complements to form participial phrases, which function as adjectives in a sentence.

For example:

The girl, running quickly, won the race. (Participial phrase: running quickly)
The book, written by a famous author, became a bestseller. (Participial phrase: written by a famous author)