Past Participles: How to use participles as adjectives, verbs and phrases

In the English Language, as in  any other language, we use sentences to denote the various span of time. These sentences refer to the time when an affair or events took place. Similarly, there are 12 tenses in the English language. Past Participle is one of those 12 tenses of the English language.

Why Should You Read About the Past Participle?

By learning past participles, you will not be able to write the English language but also speak it fluently. Articulation of the language is important for impressing the next person and delivery of the right message. No matter whether you are a professional or not, you should have a basic understanding of past participles.

Past Participle:

Past participles are those words of in English language that refers to an event that has taken place in the past. Past Participle are words that are formed from the Present Tense verb. Past Participle can be utilized as the “adjective” or the “verb tense”. These words end with the suffixes “ed”, “n”, “t”, “en”, or “d”.

Past participle can be used as the verb as well as an adjective. Examples are given below:

In the above sentences, past participle words are used in which broken is the adjective whilst “erased” is the verb. Erased is made from the “to erase”. Broken did not show any action, but supported the object. So, painting is the adjective, and erase is the tense verb.

Here are some other examples of Part Participles:

Let us consider the word “to whisper”. To whisper is the word that means making small sounds using the breath, not the throat for the sake of keeping communication secret. We will use this word to define past participles furthermore.

“Whispered” is the past participles that will be used as an adjective as well as verb tense. For example:

• Used as an adjective: “The whispered sentence”
• Used as a Verb Tense: “He had whispered her secret.”

Using Past Participles As the Adjectives

Participles are the non-finite words, which mean that you cannot tell whether you are dealing with what tense. You have to read the complete sentence to tell whether it is an adjective or the verb tense. Following are some more examples of the adjective past participles:

To further understand the usage of the past participles in the sentences, sentence examples are given hereunder:

• He could not move his swollen arm at all.
• Remember that a torn shirt can be sewn once again, but the bruised hearts can never heal.
• A broken arm does not benefit anybody except the person whose arm has broken. He gets to rest while others have to work extra.

Past Participles Described As the Participle Phrases

There are also participle phrases that work exactly like the adjective. Though they may sound like verbs, they are not actions at all. Participle phrases are the adjectives that denote an action. Following are some of the examples of the Participle Phrases:

• This is the boy wracked with great sorrow and feelings of loss.
• The man, taken to the hospital, has healed entirely.
• John fell on his knees, failed by the surrounding events.
• Jolly put off his gloves, finally broken.

These are some of the top examples of the participle phrases of Past participle. The past participles enhance the beauty of writing to another greater level.

Past Participles Used in the Sentences as the Verb Tenses

Past participles are used for creating verb tenses in the English language. Present Perfect Tense and Past Perfect Tense are obsolete without the usage of the past participles. Following are some of the top examples of the past participles:

• I have severely broken my arm.
• I have not rested a moment since the last 7 hours. I have been working continuously.
• We have witnessed the arrival of the soul in this world in two scenarios: “death and the birth”.
• Due to my worsening condition, I had “stopped” smoking a long time ago.
• In my opinion, the just has taken the wrong side. He sided with the culprit, which is utterly wrong. He had not used his common sense for solving the case.

Formation of the Past Participle Tense

Following are some of the rules for the formation of the Past Participles:

• If the verb ends with the vowel and consonant, you should double the consonant and then add the “ed”.
• If the consonant is x, y, or z, you must not double consonants at all. Let them be the way they are.
• If the verb ends with the word “e”, you will have to add the “d” with it. The past participle shall get formed.
• There are also some irregular verb tenses. If they end with irregular words, you can just add an irregular suffix such as “n”, “t”, or “d” for forming the past participles.

In the tense sentence, the past participle is the same as the “simple past tense”. Here is how you can form the past participle tense by adding these suffixes:

Adding “ed” to make the past participle:

Here is how you can make the past participle using the “ed” suffix with the regular verb:

Adding “En” For making the Past Participle:

Bottom Line

English is the international language. You need to study the English Language to travel, study or work in the developed countries. Whether you are a teacher, corporate, or student, you must be well-versed in the English language. A good understanding of the past participle is required because past participles are the building blocks of the English language. They do not only help you in delivering a message effectively, but also enrich the quality of written text.