Participle Adjectives

participles past participles present participles

Participle adjectives are the same form as participles with the same characteristics with adjectives.

What Are Participle Adjectives?

'Participle adjectives' are a form of (verb + ing) or (verb + ed) that is used as an adjective that describes a noun or pronoun.
These adjectives have particular characteristics and rules that will be discussed in the article.

Types of Participle

Participles can be used as attributive adjectives. They cannot object complements or modifiers, but they are can take adverbs such as 'very' or 'slightly.' Take a look at the examples to understand:

The problem confusing him right now is that message.

In the first sentence 'confusing' acts as a non-finite verb that takes the object 'him.'

Math is a very confusing subject.

In the second sentence 'confusing' acts as a pre-positive adjective that can be modified by adverbs such as 'very.'

The two types of participle in English are:

Present Participle (-ing form)
Past Participle (-ed/-en form)

Present Participles

The 'present participle adjectives' are formed by adding the suffix -ing to the verb form. If you want to know how it works, follow the examples:

The movie annoys me. → The movie is annoying.

The play amused us. →The play was amusing.

The bird that flied had blue feathers. → The flying bird had blue feathers.

using participles as adjectives

Past Participles

'Past participle adjectives' are usually formed by adding the suffix -ed or -en to the verbs. However, sometimes the past participle is irregular. Usually, these adjectives are used for living things because non-living objects cannot feel.

The stunned boy lived on his own.

I was pleased after talking to the young lady.

I think I am a little confused now.

He is always misunderstood.

He was killed for an unknown reason.

Adjective Participles: Functions

Adjective participles are used as follows:

As a pre-positive adjective
As a post-positive adjective

You can't fix a broken heart. (pre-positive)

I am left with nothing but a heart broken by him. (post-positive)

Compound Participle Adjectives

Adding a noun, adverb, or adjective at the beginning of a participle adjective makes a compound Participle adjective that is still considered a participle adjective. Look at the following examples:

There is a never-ending love between them.

They create long-lasting flowers using special substance.

Use a hyphen between the word and the participle adjective while creating compound participle adjectives.

Review

'Participle adjectives' are present participles or past participles formed from a verb that ends in -ing or -ed.
They are usually used to express feelings, however, they can be used in different cases. So it is better to consider them descriptive adjectives.

Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

An attributive adjective is an adjective that appears before the noun or pronoun it describes. In this lesson, we will learn more about them.

Compound Adjectives

Compound adjectives are used as one single adjective. They function as the head of the sentence. In this lesson, we will learn all about them.

Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives are commonly used in English. They tend to modify nouns and pronouns. in this lesson, we will learn more about them.

Postpositive Adjectives

Post-positive adjectives or postnominal adjectives are mainly placed immediately after the noun. In this lesson, we will learn all about them.

Gradable and Ungradable Adjectives

'Gradable' means being able to put something into different grades. So, What are the differences between gradable and ungradable adjectives?

Comparable and Non-comparable Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are categorized into two main groups including: classifying adjectives and qualifying adjectives. We will learn more in this lesson.

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