THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE (PARTICIPLE I)

The present participle as a non-finite form of the verb has verbal, adjectival and adverbial characteristics.

The verbal characteristics of the present participle are shown morphologically and syntactically, whereas the adjectival and adverbial characteristics of the present participle are revealed syntactically, mostly through its functioning in a sentence.

The verbal characteristics of the present participleshown morphologically are seen in its forms. The forms of the present participle can show the verbal grammatical categories of Voice and Correlation (Perfect).

Voice Correlation	Active	Passive
Non-Perfect	playing	being played
Perfect	having played	having been played

NOTE: The present participle of intransitive verbs is not used in the Passive voice.

The category of correlation (Perfect) is shown through the opposition of two forms: non-perfect and perfect: playing – having played; being played – having been played. The non-perfect forms of the present participledenote an action simultaneouswith the action which is expressed by the verb-predicate: Kate fell asleep watching television last night. (Kate fell asleep when she was watching television last night.) Well, I mustn’t stand chatting here all day. (I mustn’t stand and chat here all day.) We saw the snow being cleared away. (The snow was being cleared away and we saw it.) The perfect forms of the present participledenote an action prior to the action expressed by the verb-predicate: Having waited an hour, the crowd were getting impatient. (The crowd had been waiting for an hour and the people were getting impatient.) Not having been informed, we were completely in the dark. (We had not been informed, so we were completely in the dark.) The perfect form is particularly necessary when the speaker wants to emphasize completeness of the action, or when there is an interval of time between the actions: Having read the instructions, he snatched up the fire extinguisher. Having failed twice, he didn’t want to try again. The category of voice is shown through the opposition of two forms, active and passive: playing – being played; having played – having been played. The active forms denote an action which is performed by the person or the thing which is the grammatical subject of the sentence. The passive forms show that the grammatical subject is the person or thing which is affected by the action. Compare: Building the house, we had to borrow money several times. – Being built in a hurry, the house costs more than we planned.

CAUTION!

The participle always shows the action done by the person/thing which is the grammatical subject of the sentence. If this principle is not observed, it leads to confusion:

*Waiting for a bus a brick fell on my head. (This sentence may be understood in the way that the brick was waiting for a bus, which is nonsense. The proper way of expressing the idea is: As I was waiting for a bus a brick fell on my head).

The verbal characteristics of the present participle shown syntactically are seen in its ability to take an object and to be modified by an adverb:

Seeing John, I came up to say hello. (‘John’ is an object to the participle ‘seeing’)

Driving slowly, you’ll save the fuel. (‘slowly’ is an adverb modifying the participle ‘driving’)

The adjectival and adverbial features of the present participle are shown syntactically, through its functioning in a sentence as an attribute and an adverbial modifier.

The present participle is used as a structural element of the following analytical forms:

Present Continuous (John is workingin the garden.)

Past Continuous (John was reading when I entered the room.)

Future Continuous (I’ll be seeing you quite often next month.)

Present Perfect Continuous (John has been waiting for you since morning.)

Past Perfect Continuous (She had been working for the company for two years when she was dismissed.)

Future Perfect Continuous (I’ll have been living here for five years next February.)

Future Continuous in the Past (He said he would be calling me again the next day.)

The present participle is more common in written or formal speech than in spoken English.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1101

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