What is the Difference Between a Gerund and a

Present Participle
What is the difference between a gerund and a present participle?
Both a gerund and a present participle come from a verb, and both end in –ing.
However, each has a different function. A gerund acts like a noun while
a present participle acts like a verb or adjective.
Example: snowboarding

Snowboarding is fun!

Snowboarding can be a gerund or a present participle.

When snowboarding is a gerund, it acts like a noun. It can be a subject, an object, the
object of a preposition, or a subject complement.
• Snowboarding is a winter sport. [snowboarding = subject]
• I love snowboarding. [snowboarding = object ]

• I am excited by snowboarding. [snowboarding = object of a preposition]

• One popular sport is snowboarding. [snowboarding = subject complement]

When snowboarding is a present participle, it is part of a continuous verb tense.

• Right now, the athlete is snowboarding. [is snowboarding = present continuous]

• He was snowboarding yesterday afternoon. [was snowboarding = past

continuous]
• Tomorrow, my friends and I are going to be snowboarding. [are going to be
snowboarding = future continuous]

Unlike a gerund, a present participle can act like an adjective that modifies a
noun or follows the be verb.
 Example: exciting

An exciting time was had by all.

The word exciting is a present participle used as an adjective to modify a noun or to

follow the verb to be.
• The exciting ride made the people scream. [adjective + noun]
• People enjoyed the exciting roller coaster. [adjective + noun]
• The roller coaster is exciting. [be verb + adjective]

Now YOU try: Look at the sentences below. Decide whether the underlined –ing
word is acting like a noun, part of a verb, or an adjective. (Answers below)
1. What an amazing movie! I want to watch it again!
2. Speaking English well takes a long time.
3. He cares about getting a good job.
4. Shh! I am trying to sleep.
5. My friends and I were sitting in a café and talking.
6. The directions were very confusing.
7. They have been studying for a long time and want to take a break.
8. She loves traveling.
Answers: 1) adjective, 2) gerund, 3) gerund, 4) verb, 5) verb & verb, 6) adjective, 7) verb,
8) gerund

How do you know if it's a participle or the gerund?

The easiest way to tell the difference between the gerund and the present participle is
to look for the helping verb “be”. If you find a form of “be” followed by the -ing form,
that’s the present participle. For example: They’ve have been working for four hours. If
the -ing form begins the sentence, or follows a verb or preposition, that’s the gerund.
For example: Playing soccer is a lot of fun!
Gerund and present participle
JUNE 30, 2012 -

The gerund and the present participle have identical forms. They are both formed
from verbs and end in –ing. However, they have different uses. A gerund functions
like a noun. It can do everything that a noun does. A participle, on the other hand,
functions like an adjective. It is mostly used to modify nouns. It is also used to make
continuous tense forms.

Compare:

He kept me waiting. (Waiting – present participle)

I don’t like waiting. (Here the –ing form waiting is the object of the verb like and
hence it acts like a noun. It is therefore a gerund.)

After playing for an hour, he went home. (Playing – present participle)

Playing is good for health. (Here the –ing form playing is the subject of the
verb is and hence it acts like a noun. It is therefore a gerund.)

Forms of gerund

Having worked for twelve hours, I felt tired. (Perfect – active)

She is angry about having been criticized. (Perfect – passive)

Everybody is desirous of being praised. (Passive)

Not knowing what to do, she started crying. (Negative)

Exercise

Say whether the –ing forms given in the following sentences are gerunds or present
participles.

1. Telling lies won’t help anyone.

2. She was punished for coming late.

3. Children learn reading and writing at school.

4. Coming events cast their shadow.

5. He left the tap running.

Answers

1. Telling – gerund (subject of the verb won’t)

2. Coming – gerund (object of the preposition for)

3. Reading and writing – gerund (object of the verb learn)

4. Coming – present participle (modifies the noun events)

5. Present participle – running (modifies the noun tap)

What Are Present, Past, And

Sometimes Perfect Participles?
Participles. They’re verbs, they’re adjectives, they’re perfect and
progressive! Is there anything they can’t do?

If you’re wondering what a participle does, you’re not alone. These mighty
verbs take many forms and can be tricky to master. Let’s explore the
different types.

To start, participles are words derived from verbs that can function
as adjectives or as parts of verb phrases to create verb tenses.
Put simply, that means a participle will look like a verb (running) but may
have a different role in the sentence: the running water. That participle is
describing the water and performing the function of an adjective.
The two main types of participles are the present participle and the past
participle.
What is a present participle?
Adding -ing to the base form of a verb creates the present participle. For
example, eat is the base form of the verb to eat. The present participle
of eat is eating. Present participles always end in -ing.
Other examples of present participles include swimming, laughing,
and playing.
The present participle can function as an adjective and modify nouns in
sentences. For example:
• In the sentence “The winning athlete gets a trophy,” the present
participle winning describes the noun athlete.
Present participles appear in progressive (or continuous) verb tenses,
which show when a verb or action was/is in the process of happening. For
example:
• A sentence in the present progressive tense is: “She is sitting now.”
• A sentence in past progressive tense is: “She was sitting there 10
minutes ago.”
• A sentence in future progressive tense is: “She will be sitting at her
desk in an hour.”
All three of these sentences indicate when she was/is in the process
of sitting.
What is a past participle?
For regular verbs, adding -ed to the base form creates the past participle.
For example, the past participle of cook is cooked.
Past participles formed from irregular verbs may have endings like -en, -t, -
d, and -n. Examples include swollen, burnt, hoped, and broken. Some past
participles remain the same as the base forms of irregular verbs,
like set and cut.
Past participles can also function as adjectives that modify nouns. For
example:

• In the sentence “She placed the cut flowers in the vase,” the past
participle cut modifies the noun flowers.
Past participles can also combine with the verb to be to create the passive
forms of verbs. For example:
• In the sentence “He was taken to the store by his daughter,” the verb
form was taken includes the past participle taken and was, which is the
past tense of the verb to be.
What is a perfect participle?
And there’s more!

Combining the word having with the past participle of a word creates
the perfect participle. Perfect participles demonstrate that an action was
completed in the past. Examples of perfect participles include having
watched, having arrived, and having slept.
What is a participial phrase?
Participial phrases are participles combined with other words that act as
adjectives within sentences. Usually, participial phrases modify the subjects
of sentences, but sometimes they modify other nouns. For example:
• In the sentence “Wearing his new suit, Bill went to work,” the
participial phrase wearing his new suit acts like an adjective to describe
the subject of the sentence, Bill.
Within a sentence, participial phrases should be close to the nouns that
they modify to avoid confusion. For example:

• In the sentence “Leaving the store, he hailed a taxi,” it’s clear that the
phrase leaving the store modifies the subject he.
Participial phrases that don’t clearly have a noun to modify are known
as dangling modifiers. For instance:
• In the sentence “Leaving the store, the traffic was heavy,” it seems as
if the traffic is leaving the store, but this is impossible.
Can we go over this one more time?

• Participles are words formed from verbs.

• Present participles always end in -ing and function as adjectives. They
help form progressive verb tenses.
• Past participles end in -ed, or other past tense irregular verb endings,
and function as adjectives. They also combine with the verb to be to
create passive verb forms.
• Participial phrases modify the subjects of sentences.
There are two types of participles in English, and each type is used in a variety
of ways.

Present Participles
The first type of participle is the present participle. The present participle is
often referred to as the '-ing' form of the verb. Here are some examples of
present participles in italics:

• The sun was shining so I went for a walk.

• The man speaking English is our teacher.
• That movie was extremely exciting.

Past Participles
Past participles are used similarly to present participles. Here are some
examples of past participles in italics:

• He has flown to Chicago twice.

• The broken boy returned home without a prize.
• That man looks lost.

Participles Used as the Main Verb

Participles are used with auxiliary verbs in a variety of tenses. It is important
to remember that the changes in the conjugation of the verb are made to the
auxiliary verb. The participle form remains the same.

Present participles are used for continuous (or progressive) tenses. These
include the present continuous, past continuous and future continuous.

• Present Continuous: They are watching TV at the moment.

• Past Continuous: Mary was talking on the telephone when I came home.
• Future Continuous: I'll be playing golf tomorrow at three o'clock.
• Present Perfect Continuous: He has been working in the garden for
twenty minutes.
• Past Perfect Continuous: They had been waiting for thirty minutes
when he finally arrived.
• Future Perfect Continuous: Jack will have been studying for four hours
by six o'clock.
• Past participles are used with simple perfect tenses (continuous perfect
or progressive perfect tenses take the participle 'been' + the present
participle - have been playing, will have been working, etc.).
• Present Perfect: She's already eaten lunch.
• Past Perfect: They had left for California before she called.
• Future Perfect: I will have bought the clothes by tomorrow evening.
Passive Voice and Participles
Past participles are also used in all passive voice sentences. To quickly review
the passive voice structure:

• Passive Subject + be (conjugated) + past participle

• Present passive: Tom was taught by Frankie.
• Past passive: My car was made in Germany.

Participles Used as Adjectives

Participles can also be used as adjectives to describe nouns. The difference
between the present participle and the past participle can make quite a
difference in meaning:

• The bored man went to sleep during the discussion.

• The boring man put other people to sleep during the discussion.

In the first sentence, the past participle 'bored' is used to mean that the man
himself was bored; in the second sentence, the present participle 'boring' is
used to mean that the man was boring to others.

The past participle is used as a passive adjective. The passive adjective

expresses how someone feels.

• Any interested student should apply in the office.

• The overly excited boys need to calm down!

The present participle is used as an active adjective. The active adjective

describes the effect on people or things:

• He's an interesting professor. I'd like to take a class with him.

• She's a boring speaker.

Participles Used as Adverbs

The present participle is sometimes used as an adverb to describe the manner
in which a verb is performed. Here are a few examples:

• She taught pounding the grammar into their heads!

• Angelo works considering all angles.

Notice how the present participle could be preceded with 'by' to give the same
meaning:

• She taught (by) pounding the grammar into their heads!

 • Angelo works (by) considering all angles.

Participles Used like Clauses

Finally, participles are also used in short phrases that function as clauses. In
some cases, the phrase containing the participle drops the relative pronoun:

• Who's that boy playing the piano? - (Who is that boy who's playing the
piano?)
• That's the man remembered by his friends. - (That is the man who was
remembered by his friends.)

These structures can also introduce sentences with either the present
participle or the past participle:

• Spending all his free time in the library, he continued to learn outside of
class.
• Left alone with nowhere to go, Mary decided to return home a few days
early.

Present Participles and Gerunds

The present participle is often confused with the gerund which is also casually
referred to as the 'ing' form of the verb. The difference between the gerund and
the present participle can be confusing. The main difference is that a gerund is
used as a noun:

• Taking a vacation is important to your mental health.

• We enjoy watching romantic comedies.
 Participles: What Is A Participle? Present
& Past Participle
April 20, 2018 English Grammar 3 Comments
Participles! What is a participle? Learn participle definition and how to use Present
Participle and Past Participle in English with examples and ESL worksheets.

Table of Contents
• What is a Participle?
• Present Participle
• Past Participle
• Present Participle vs. Past Participle

What is a Participle?
What is a participle? A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most
often ends in -ing or -ed. They function as adjectives, thus participles modify nouns
or pronouns.

There are two participles: The present participle and the past participle. They can
both be used as adjectives.
The Present participle, always ending in -ing.

Present participle examples:

A crying baby
The smiling girl is my sister.
The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

Harry has worked in this company for 5 years

Irregular verbs, however, have various past participle endings – for
instance, thrown, ridden, built, and gone

Present Participle
Present participle, always ending in -ing, is created from the form of a verb used with
the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were, been) as an auxiliary verb (progressive
tense).
The Present participle is used:

 As a part of the continuous form of a verb

They are playing football at the moment.
He is reading a book.
 As an adjective
A crying baby
The smiling girl is my sister.
 As a gerund
 Mary is interested in reading books.
 After verbs of perception
I saw them crossing the street.
I could hear them playing in the garden.
 With the verbs: Spend & Waste: verb + time/money expression + present participle
Don’t waste time playing computer games!
I’ve spent the whole weekend revising for my exam.
 With the verbs Catch & Find: verb + object + present participle
(With catch, the participle always refers to an action which causes annoyance or
anger. This is not the case with find, which is unemotional.)
Don’t let him catch you reading his letters.
I found him sitting on a park bench reading a book.
 For two actions at the same time
He left the room laughing.

NOTE: You may be thinking that present participles look just like gerunds because
they are verbs ending in -ing, but the big difference is that gerunds are used like
nouns, while present participles are used as adjectives to modify nouns or pronouns.
Past Participle
The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed. Irregular verbs, however, have
various past participle endings – for instance, thrown, ridden, built, and gone.
The Past Participle is used:

 As an adjective
A broken vase
Spoken words cannot be revoked.
 With the auxiliary verb “have” to form the perfect aspect
Harry has worked in this company for 5 years.
When I came, he had left.
 With the verb “be” to form the passive
This house was built in 1815.
The book was given to me.
 To make one of the past forms for the modal verbs (modal auxiliaries). These forms
use a modal + have + the past participle.
The police could have charged them with threatening behaviour.
I should have finished by the middle of the week.
 Used to replace a “subject+passive verb” construction
She entered, accompanied by her daughters.
 Used after Want, Make, Have and Like+direct object
I want this text translated by noon.
He made his presence felt.

Present Participle vs. Past Participle

Learn the differences between present participle and past participle with examples.

 The present participle has an active meaning:

 He found the house burning.
The past participle has a passive meaning:

He found the house burned.

The past participle is active in such examples:

A retired teacher
The fallen angels
An escaped prisoner.
 The present participle is used to replace constructions of the type “subject+active
verb”:
He opens the door and looks inside → Opening the door, he looks inside.
The past participle is used to replace constructions of the type “subject+passive
verb”:

She entered and she was accompanied by her daughters → She entered, accompanied by
her daughters.
 In nominative absolute constructions:
The present participle is used if the absolute phrase is active:

The weather being fine, nobody wanted to stay at home.

The past participle is used if the absolute construction is passive:

All things considered,/This done, I think we should start immediately.

Present and past participles

JULY 14, 2013 -

When –ing forms are used to make continuous tense forms, they are called present
participles. Note that present participles are often confused with gerunds. Although
both gerunds and present participles look alike, they have totally different
grammatical properties.

Gerunds serve the same purpose as nouns. They can be the subject or object of a
verb or preposition.

Smoking is injurious to health. (Here the gerund smoking acts as the subject of the
verb is.)

Singing is his hobby. (Here the gerund singing acts as the subject of the verb is.)
Present participles, on the other hand, are mainly used to form continuous tense
forms. They can also act as adjectives.

They are waiting for us. (Here the present participle waiting goes after the verb be
and forms the present continuous verb are waiting.)

It has been raining since morning. (Here the present participle raining helps in the
formation of the present perfect continuous tense.)

Past participles are forms like wanted, broken, started, begun etc. Some verbs
have the same past simple and past participle forms. Examples are:

Want / wanted / wanted

Cry / cried / cried

Start / started / started

In the case of some other verbs, the past participle form is different from the past
simple form.

Break / broke / broken

Begin / began / begun

The past participle forms are used to form perfect tenses and passive verb forms.

They have left.

Someone has broken the window.

You are fired.

Active and passive meanings of participles

When –ing forms are used like adjectives or adverbs, they have similar meanings to
active verbs.

Falling leaves (= leaves that fall)

A fish-eating animal is an animal that eats fish.

When participles are used like adjectives and adverbs, they have passive meanings.

A burnt child is a child that has been burnt.

A broken heart is a heart that has been broken.