Participle

Participle

In linguistics, a participle (adjective participial, from Latin participium, a calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking") is a derivative of a non-finite verb, which can be used in compound tenses or voices, or as a modifier. Participles often share properties with other parts of speech, in particular adjectives and nouns.
Contents

•    1 Participles in Modern English
•    2 Participles in other languages
o    2.1 Sireniki Eskimo
o    2.2 Arabic
o    2.3 Latin
o    2.4 Old English
o    2.5 Lithuanian
o    2.6 French
o    2.7 Spanish
o    2.8 Finnish
o    2.9 Russian
o    2.10 Bulgarian
•    3 Kinds of participles in various languages
o    3.1 Adverbial and adjectival
o    3.2 Perfect passive participle
    3.2.1 Perfect participles of deponent verbs
•    4 See also
•    5 External links
•    6 Notes
•    7 References

Participles in Modern English
English verbs have two participles:
1.    called variously the present, active, imperfect, or progressive participle, it is identical in form to the gerund; the term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund. The term gerund-participle is also used.
2.    called variously the past, passive, or perfect participle, it is usually identical to the verb's preterite (past tense) form, though in irregular verbs the two usually differ.
Examples of participle formation include:

Verb    Past
Simple    Past
Participle    Present
Participle    Regular/
Irregular
talk    talked    talking    regular
hire    hired    hiring   
do    did    done    doing    irregular
say    said    saying   
eat    ate    eaten    eating   
write    wrote    written    writing   
beat    beat    beaten    beating   
sing    sang    sung    singing   
The present participle in English is active. It has the following uses:
•    forming the progressive aspect: Jim was sleeping.
•    modifying a noun, with active sense: Let sleeping dogs lie.
•    modifying a verb or sentence: Broadly speaking, the project was successful.
The present participle in English has the same form as the gerund, but the gerund acts as a noun rather than a verb or a modifier. The word sleeping in Your job description does not include sleeping is a gerund and not a present participle.
The past participle has both active and passive uses:
•    forming the perfect aspect: The chicken has eaten.
•    forming the passive voice: The chicken was eaten.
•    modifying a noun, with active sense: our fallen comrades
•    modifying a noun, with passive sense: the attached files
•    modifying a verb or sentence, with passive sense: Seen from this perspective, the problem presents no easy solution.
As noun-modifiers, participles usually precede the noun (like adjectives), but in many cases they can or must follow it:
•    The visiting dignitaries devoured the baked apples.
•    Please bring all the documents required.
•    The difficulties encountered were nearly insurmountable.
[edit] Participles in other languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle