346. In Lesson LIV we learned that the perfect tenses of any verb are formed by combining certain auxiliaries with the past participles of the verb; as, “I have heard,” “I had heard,” “I shall have heard.” We learned also that the past participle is one of the principal parts of a verb.

In Lesson LV we learned that the passive voice of any transitive verb is formed by adding its past participle to the conjugation of the verb be; as, “It is caught,” “It was caught,” “It will be caught.”

In Lesson LVI we learned that the past participle of a verb may be used like an adjective as the subjective complement of a verb; as, “The potatoes seem done,” “The flowers are withered now.”

347. In Lesson LVII we learned that the present participle of a verb always ends in -ing, and that this participle is used in forming the progressive conjugation, as, “I am sleeping,” “I was sleeping,” “I shall be sleeping.”

We are ready now to study participles in all their relations.

348. Intransitive verbs have four participles:—

Transitive verbs have six participles:—

The active participles denote action performed; they make us think of the doer of the action. On the other hand, the passive participles denote action received; they make us think of the receiver of the action.

The present participle expresses action as still in progress; the past participle expresses action completed in past time; the perfect participle expresses past action completed before some particular past time.

349. The participle, like the infinitive, is a verbal, because it is a verb form without the power to assert. Just as an infinitive is oftenest used as a noun, so the participle is oftenest used as an adjective; that is, it is usually associated with some noun. Indeed, it is by their adjective use that we are able to distinguish participles from infinitives in -ing, for in form they are almost exactly the same.

What nouns do the participles belong with in the following sentences?

I hear the sound of trickling water.

The lost child had wandered far.

The diamonds sparkling in her dark hair rivaled the stars.

The chair made two hundred years ago tilted one forward very uncomfortably.

350. The participles used oftenest are the simplest of all, the present active participle and the past passive participle.

351. A participle, like an infinitive, may have all the complements and modifiers that a verb may have; as, “The man turning the switch is faithful,” “Feeling sleepy after lunch, I took a nap.”

The participle and all its accompanying words form together a participial phrase.

Summary.—A participle is a verbal that is generally used as an adjective.

Participles may be active or passive or progressive in meaning.

Participles have three tenses,—present, past, and perfect. The present participle expresses continuing action, the past participle completed action, and the perfect participle past action completed before a particular time.

Participles have the same complements and modifiers as verbs.

A participial phrase is a group of words consisting of a participle and its complement and modifiers.

Exercise 1.—Form all the participles of the verbs choose, draw, drink, go, find, know, tell, think, turn, shine.

Exercise 2.—Select all the participial phrases in these sentences. Tell what noun or pronoun they belong with. Classify the participles.

1. Two children sat on the grass under the lilacs, making dandelion chains and talking happily.

2. Those three tall poles now being lifted to position will enable us to have a telephone.

3. From a little hill called Hutchinson’s Hill you could look over three and a half miles of ground covered with fighting seals.

4. Having given away the old candle mold, she was anxious to get it back again.

5. Mrs. Merrithew, knowing well that little folk are generally troubled with a wonderful thirst, had also brought a cup and a bottle of lemonade.

6. The floors were bird’s-eye maple, and having been lately waxed, they looked too fine for my desecrating tread.

7. The workmen, having been painting for hours on the sunny side of the house, grew faint and dizzy.

8. The boy took his seat, frowning and blinking at the candle light, while his mother, placing his coffee before him, let her hand rest on his shoulder.

9. Having passed at the turnstile into the campus, David stood before the college.

10. In one hand he carried a faded valise made of Brussels carpet sprinkled with pink roses.

11. The old peasant woman, having eaten three meals with the servants and three with the mistress, declared at evening that she was satisfied.

12. If all the money being spent for ice-cream sodas were put to some useful purpose—cement sidewalks, for instance,—few of us would be stubbing our toes on old board walks.

13. A snowball soaked in water and left out to cool was a projectile which had been resorted to with disastrous results.

14. No flying or crawling creature escapes the sharp little eyes of the birds.

15. Its roots having been cut, the top of the tree suffered.

16. The tourists, having watched the bears nose about among the tin cans in the garbage piles, went back to the hotel to avoid being devoured by mosquitoes.

17. Very soon their path led them out into a wide glade, fenced all about with the serried and formal ranks of the young firs.

18. That log just being sawed will produce eight hundred feet of lumber.

19. The whale is the largest animal now living in the world.

20. Having been told by his master that he too could go to the village, Shep bounded away down the road like mad.

21. Sleep, having descended upon him, spread a quiet mist through his brain.

22. Having been tramped down by the cattle, the snow was smooth like a floor.

Tell the use of all the infinitive phrases in sentences 2, 4, 10, 13.