Participles make your English more beautiful and natural: how to use them correctly

Many people, even those with a good command of English, often don't understand what English participles look like. That is, they use these words but have little understanding of their grammatical features. To clarify this issue, New York ForumDaily has prepared four key facts about English participles.

Fact #1: There are only two types of participles in English.

There are many participles in Russian (active, passive, present and past tense).

В English It's simpler - there are only two types that can be easily distinguished by their endings.

The present participle (Participle I) always has an ending -ing.

• to read → a reading boy;
• to fall → a falling leaf.

It describes the action performed by the object itself (used in the definition function).

Past participle (Participle II): for regular verbs, this is -ed, for irregular ones - the third form.

• to close → a closed window;
• to write → a written letter.

It shows the result of an action performed on an object (analogous to a passive participle in Russian).

On the subject: How to describe your mood in English: words Americans often use

Simple rule: if you see -ing, the object itself performs the action. If -ed or the third form - the action is performed on the object.

Fact #2: -ing is not always translated as a participle

В English end -ing wider than Russian ones -uzhshchy, -uzhshchy, -ashchyIt can denote different parts of speech depending on the context:

• Participle: A smiling girl = A smiling girl.
• Participle (question "Doing what?"): He left the room smiling = He left the room smiling.
• Verbal noun: Smoking is harmful = Smoking is harmful.

Always look at the role of the word in the sentence.

Fact #3: The tense of the participle depends on the main verb

English participles do not have absolute tense. They indicate simultaneity or antecedence of an action relative to the predicate:

• simultaneous action: I saw him crossing the street. = I saw him when he was crossing the street;
• preceding action: Having finished his work, he went home.

Fact #4: Participles make sentences shorter and more elegant.

Participial phrases allow you to combine two sentences without repetition. and, because, which:

Base: The man who is sitting by the window is my brother.

With communion: The man sitting by the window is my brother = The man sitting by the window is my brother.

Base: He finished the book and went to bed.

With communion: Having finished the book, he went to bed = Having finished the book, he went to bed.

Using participial phrases is a sign of confident language proficiency. Watch them in songs, movies, and articles to see how native speakers economize on words.