What is a participle?

A participle is a verb form that is used as an adjective or to make compound .

There are two types of participles:

1. Participle -- ends in -ing (ex: relaxing, sipping, resting, shivering)
2. Participle --- usually ends in -ed or -en (frightened, taken, broken, seen)

Used as Adjective:

• Shivering , the man held tightly to his coat.
• Stop nursing your broken heart.

Used in a Compound Verb:

• The tourists are sipping lemonade beside the pool. (in the present progressive tense)
• They were resting under the palm trees. (in the past progressive tense)
• They will be relaxing in the mansion by this time tomorrow. (in the progressive tense)
• Mario has taken a leave of absence from work. (present perfect tense)

• The burglary had frightened the child so much that the child was traumatized. (past perfect)

• He will have seen the world before he turns thirty. (future perfect)

Note: Past participles are used to conjugate verbs in the perfect tenses. Present participles are used to conjugate verbs in the progressive tenses.