Plain English

by Marian Wharton

PARTICIPLES AS ADJECTIVES

272. You remember, when we studied the participle, that we found it was called a participle because it partook of the nature of two or more parts of speech. For example; in the sentence, The singing of the birds greeted us; singing is a participle derived from the verb sing, and is used as a noun, the subject of the verb greeted.

But participles are used not only as nouns; they may also be used as adjectives. For example; we may say, The singing birds greeted us. Here the participle singing describes the birds, telling what kind of birds greeted us, and is used as an adjective modifying the noun birds.

You will recall that we found there were two forms of the participle, the present participle and the past participle. The present participle is formed by adding ing to the root form of the verb; and the past participle in regular verbs is formed by adding d or ed to the root form, and in irregular verbs by a change in the verb form itself. These two simple forms of participles are often used as adjectives.

273. The present participle is almost always active; that is, it refers to the actor. As, for example; Vessels, carrying soldiers, are constantly arriving. Here the present participle carrying describes the noun vessels, and yet retains its function as a verb and has an object, soldiers. So it partakes of two parts of speech, the verb and the adjective.

274. The past participle, when used alone, is almost always passive, for it refers not to the actor, but to what is acted upon, thus:

• The army, beaten but not conquered, prepared for a siege.

In this sentence beaten is the past participle of the irregular verb beat, and conquered is the past participle of the regular verb conquer, and both modify the noun army, but refer to it, not as the actor, but as the receiver of the action. Hence, the past participle is also the passive participle.

Note in the following sentences the use of the present and past participle as adjectives:

• A refreshing breeze came from the hills.
• They escaped from the burning building.
• Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, onward through life he goes.
• The man, defeated in his purpose, gave up in despair.
• The child, driven in its youth to work, is robbed of the joy of childhood.
• The army, forced to retreat, destroyed all in its path.
• The children, neglected by society, grow up without their rightful opportunities.

Exercise 1

The adjectives and participles used as adjectives in the following sentences are printed in italics. Determine which adjectives are capable of comparison, and whether they are compared by adding er or est, or by the use of more and most.

In a community regulated by laws of demand and supply, but protected from open violence, the persons who become rich are, generally speaking, industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insensitive and ignorant. The persons who remain poor are the entirely foolish, the entirely wise, the idle, the reckless, the humble, the thoughtful, the dull, the imaginative, the sensitive, the well-informed, the improvident, the irregularly and impulsively wicked, the clumsy knave, the open thief, and the entirely merciful, just and godly persons.—Ruskin.