Definition:
A verbal that functions as an adjective. Present participles end in -ing; past participles of regular verbs end in -ed. Adjective, participial. See also:
- Creating and Arranging Participial Phrases
- Building Sentences with Participial Phrases
- Absolutes and Participial Phrases in Shaw's "The Eighty-Yard Run"
- Participial Phrases in Momaday's "House Made of Dawn"
Etymology:
From the Latin, "share, partake, participate"Examples:
- Present Participles
"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
(Voltaire)
"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing."
(Robert Benchley)
"The ducks come on swift, silent wings, gliding through the treetops as if guided by radar, twisting, turning, never touching a twig in that thick growth of trees that surrounded the lake."
(Jack Denton Scott, "The Wondrous Wood Duck") - Past Participles
"One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away.
(Willa Cather, O Pioneers!)
The Bible's Jezebel came to an ugly end. Thrown from a balcony, trampled by horses, and devoured by dogs, the middle-aged queen has had few good days since.
"I believe in broken, fractured, complicated narratives, but I believe in narratives as a vehicle for truth, not simply as a form of entertainment."
(Stephen Greenblatt)
Pronunciation: PAR-ti-sip-ul
