What is the present participle?

The present participle is a participle that ends in ing. It can be used with the auxilliary verb 'to be' to form the continuous tense. It always takes the ing form of the verb, even irregular verbs have an ...ing form, in fact virtually all English words that end with ing are present participles. For example:I am learning English. (Learning is part of the continuous verb phrase 'am learning') We were running through the woods. (Running is part of the continuous verb phrase 'were running' ). It can also be used as an adjective. For example:As an adjective: I am a working woman. (Working is used here as anadjective.)

!Note :The present participle can also be used as a noun denoting the action of a verb a gerund. But remember the present participle can be used as a verb or an adjective whilst the gerund is used as a noun.

Participles
Ada dua participles dalam bahasa Inggris, yaitu: 1. Present participle (active participle) menggunakan akhiran ing dari kata kerja, misalnya burning, working, loving, sitting, standing, sleeping, etc. 2. Past participle (passive participle) menggunakan akhiran ed, -en, -d, -t, -n dari kata kerja, misalnya worked, wrecked, loved, broken, stolen, written, etc. Sebagai verbal, fungsi utama dari participle adalah sebagai kata sifat (adjective) yang menerangkan nouns atau pronouns. Letak present participle dalam kalimat: - sebelum kata benda, contoh: The crying baby is suffering from the heat. - setelah kata benda, contoh: The boy, shouting, woke his mother. - di awal kalimat, contoh: Falling, Andri must be carried to hospital. Letak past participle dalam kalimat - sebelum kata benda, contoh: I saw a broken glass in the corner. - setelah linking verb (be), contoh: She seemed worried. - di awal kalimat, contoh: Shaken, he walked away from the wrecked car.

Present Participles

> Formation The present participle is formed by adding the ending "--ing" to the infinitive (dropping any silent "e" at the end of the infinitive): to sing --> singing to take --> taking to bake --> baking to be --> being to have --> having

> Use A. The present participle may often function as an adjective: That's an interesting book. That tree is a weeping willow.

B. The present participle can be used as a noun denoting an activity (this form is also called a gerund): Swimming is good exercise. Traveling is fun.

C. The present participle can indicate an action that is taking place, although it cannot stand by itself as a verb. In these cases it generally modifies a noun (or pronoun), an adverb, or a past participle: Thinking myself lost, I gave up all hope. Washing clothes is not my idea of a job. Looking ahead is important.

D. The present participle may be used with "while" or "by" to express an idea of simultaneity ("while") or causality ("by") : He finished dinner while watching television. By using a dictionary he could find all the words. While speaking on the phone, she doodled. By calling the police you saved my life!

E. The present participle of the auxiliary "have" may be used with the past participle to describe a past condition resulting in another action: Having spent all his money, he returned home. Having told herself that she would be too late, she accelerated.

'- ING' FORM THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE The present participle of most verbs has the form base+ing and is used in the following ways: a. as part of the continuous form of a verb (See continuous tenses in VERB TENSES) Example: I am working, he was singing, they have been walking. b. after verbs of movement/position in the pattern: verb + present participle Example:

y y y

She went shopping He lay looking up at the clouds She came running towards me

This construction is particularly useful with the verb 'to go', as in these common expressions : to to to to go go go go shopping ski-ing fishing surfing to to to to go go go go walking swimming running dancing

c. after verbs of perception in the pattern: verb + object + present participle Example: I heard someone singing. He saw his friend walking along the road. I can smell something burning! NOTE: There is a difference in meaning when such a sentence contains azero-infinitive rather than a participle. The infinitive refers to acomplete action, but the participle refers to an incomplete action, or part of an action. Compare:

y y

I heard Joanna singing (= she had started before I heard her, and probably went on afterwards) I heard Joanna sing (= I heard her complete performance)

d. as an adjective Examples:

amazing, worrying, exciting, boring.

y y

It was an amazing film. It's a bit worrying when the police stop you

e. with the verbs spend and waste, in the pattern: verb + time/money expression + present participle Example:

y y y

My boss spends two hours a day travelling to work. Don't waste time playing computer games! They've spent the whole day shopping.

f. with the verbs catch and find, in the pattern: verb + object + present participle: With catch, the participle always refers to an action which causes annoyance or anger:

y y

If I catch you stealing my apples again, there'll be trouble! Don't let him catch you reading his letters.

This is not the case with find, which is unemotional:

y y

We found some money lying on the ground. They found their mother sitting in the garden.

g. to replace a sentence or part of a sentence: When two actions occur at the same time, and are done by the same person or thing, we can use a present participle to describe one of them:

They went out into the snow. They laughed as they went. the snow. He whistled to himself. He walked down the road. down the road.

They went laughing out into

Whistlingto himself, he walked

When one action follows very quickly after another done by the same person or thing, we can express the first action with a present participle:

y y

He put on his coat and left the house.

Putting on his coat, he left the house. Droppingthe gun, she put her

She dropped the gun and put her hands in the air. hands in the air.

The present participle can be used instead of a phrase starting as, since, because, and it explains the cause or reason for an action:

y y y

Feeling hungry, he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. (= because he felt hungry...) Being poor, he didn't spend much on clothes. Knowing that his mother was coming, he cleaned the flat.

The Participle Recognize a participle when you see one.

Participles come in two varieties: past and present. They are two of the five forms or principal parts that every verb has. Look at the charts below. R e g ul ar V er b s:

Verb

Simple Simple Past Present Infinitive Present Past Participle Participle

giggle

giggle(s)

giggled

giggled

giggling

to giggle

help

help(s)

helped

helped

helping

to help

jump

jump(s)

jumped

jumped

jumping

to jump

I r r e g ul ar V er b s:

Verb

Simple Simple Past Present Infinitive Present Past Participle Participle

bring

bring(s)

brought

brought

bringing

to bring

ring

ring(s)

rang

rung

ringing

to ring

sing

sing(s)

sang

sung

singing

to sing

swim

swim(s)

swam

swum

swimming

to swim

Notice that each present participle ends in ing. This is the case 100 percent of the time. On the other hand, you can see that past participles do not have a consistent ending. The past participles of all regular verbs end in ed; the past participles of irregular verbs, however, vary considerably. If you look at bring and sing, for example, you'll see that their past participles brought and sungdo not follow the same pattern even though both verbs have ing as the last three letters. Consult a dictionary whenever you are unsure of a verb's past participle form.

Know the functions of participles.

Participles have three functions in sentences. They can be components of multipart verbs, or they can function as adjectives ornouns.

P ar t i ci pl e s i n M ul ti p ar t V er bs A verb can have as many as four parts. When you form multipart verbs, you use a combination of auxiliary verbsand participles. Look at the examples below:
Our pet alligator ate Mrs. Olsen's poodle.

Ate = simple past tense [no participle].

With a broom, Mrs. Olsen was beating our alligator over the head in an attempt to retrieve her poodle.

Was = auxiliary verb; beating = present participle.

Our pet alligator has been stalkingneighborhood pets because my brother Billy forgets to feed the poor reptile.

Has = auxiliary verb; been = past participle;stalking = present participle.

Our pet alligator should have been eatingGator Chow, crunchy nuggets that Billy leaves for him in a bowl.

Should, have = auxiliary verbs; been = past participle; eating = present participle. P ar t i ci pl e s a s A d j e c ti ve s Past and present participles often function as adjectivesthat describe nouns. Here are some examples:
The crying baby drew a long breath and sucked in a spider crouching in the corner of the crib.

Which baby? The crying baby. Which spider? The one that was crouching in the corner.

The mangled pair of sunglasses, bruisedface, broken arm, and bleeding knees meant Genette had taken another spill on her mountain bike.

Which pair of sunglasses? The mangled pair. Which face? The bruised one. Which arm? Thebroken one. Which knees? The bleeding ones. P a rt i c i p l e s as N o un s Present participles can function as nounsthe subjects,direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and subject complements in sentences. Whenever a present participle functions as a noun, you call it a gerund. Take a look at these examples:
Sneezing exhausts Steve, who requires eight tissues and twentyseven Gesundheits before he is done.

Sneezing = the subject of the verb exhausts.

Valerie hates cooking because scraping burnt gook out of pans always undermines her enjoyment of the food.

Cooking = the direct object of the verb hates.

We gave bungee jumping a chance.

Bungee jumping = indirect object of the verbgave.

Joelle bit her tongue instead of criticizing her prom date's powder blue tuxedo.

Criticizing = object of the preposition instead of.

Omar's least favorite sport is water-skiingbecause a bad spill once caused him to lose his swim trunks.

Water-skiing = the subject complement of the verb is.