Definition:
A verb form--made by adding -ing to the base form--that functions as an adjective. Present participles are the only verb forms that are completely regular without a single exception.
Examples and Observations:
- "I drive through the electric gates of a three-acre estate, passing landscaped gardens before I pull up in front of a neocolonial mansion, parking beside a Bentley, two Porsches and a Lamborghini Spyder. Moonsamy, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, is waiting for me at the door."
(Joshua Hammer, "Inside Cape Town," Smithsonian, April 2008) - "Although we have traditionally thought of the participle as an adjectival (and that is certainly its more common role), some participles and participial phrases clearly have an adverbial function, providing information of time, place, reason, and manner, as other adverbials do."
(Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar, Allyn and Bacon, 1998) - "Walking through Sherwood Forest at sunset, we could feel an air of mystery, as if the ancient trees had a story to tell, if only we could hear."
(Winsoar Churchill, "Robin Hood's Merry England," British Heritage, April 1998) - "Standing near the door, we dipped our fingers in the holy water, crossed and blessed ourselves, and proceeded up to the sleeping-room, in the usual order, two by two."
(Maria Monk) - "The problem of teaching the participle is certainly not simplified by the fact that this term is obviously a misnomer. The student, accustomed to present tenses which indicate present time, and past tenses which indicate past time, cannot comprehend the sophistry of a present participle which indicates now present, now past, now future time. . . . Why insist on calling the participle in -ing present no matter what time it happens to be indicating?"
(Karl G. Pfeiffer, "The Present Participle--A Misnomer," The English Journal, 1931)
Also Known As: active, imperfect, or -ing participle
