263. Participles are adjectival verbals; that is, they either belong to some substantive by expressing action in connection with it, or they express action, and directly modify a substantive, thus having a descriptive force. Notice these functions.
Pure participle in function.
1. At length, wearied by his cries and agitations, and not knowing how to put an end to them, he addressed the animal as if he had been a rational being.—Dwight.
Here wearied and knowing belong to the subject he, and express action in connection with it, but do not describe.
Express action and also describe.
2. Another name glided into her petition—it was that of the wounded Christian, whom fate had placed in the hands of bloodthirsty men, his avowed enemies.—Scott.
Here wounded and avowed are participles, but are used with the same adjectival force that bloodthirsty is (see Sec. 143, 4).
Participial adjectives have been discussed in Sec. 143 (4), but we give further examples for the sake of comparison and distinction.
Fossil participles as adjectives.
3. As learned a man may live in a cottage or a college commmon-room.—Thackeray