Do you know what a participle is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on participles, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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According to Your Dictionary and Collins English Dictionary, a participle is a word formed from a verb. This is usually formed by adding a suffix. There are many different forms of participle including the present participle, past tense past participle, using participles to form adjectives and nouns, or as part of a compound verb.
The past participle is usually formed by adding the suffixes ing or ed, but there are exceptions for irregular verbs. There are many different types of verb and verb forms, including strong verbs, weak verbs, the perfect aspect, progressive aspect, regular verbs, the past perfect tense, an auxiliary verb also known as auxiliaries, a gerund, and more. A participial phrase is started with commas when it comes at the beginning of a sentence, interrupts a sentence as a nonessential element, or comes at the end of a sentence and is also separated from the word it modifies.
The word participle comes from the c14 Middle English, from the Middle French, Old French and Latin participium, from particeps partaker, a variant of participe, the Latin pars part and a form of capere. This is known as the word’s etymology.
Many different languages also contain words that mean participle. You may notice that some of these translations of participle look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of participle is provided by Word Sense.
Faroese: lýsingarháttur (masc.)
West Frisian: mulwurd
Irish: rangabháil (fem.)
Novial: partisipe
Swedish: particip (neut.)
Latin: participium (neut.)
Dutch: deelwoord (neut.)
Ancient Greek: μετοχή
Italian: participio (masc.)
Galician: participio (masc.)
Turkish: ortaç, durum ortacı, sıfat-fiil, partisip
The going rate for freelancers is more than minimum wage.
He hated sitting in the backseat of the car.
My baked beans come from an old family recipe.
The devoted friend blew out the burning candle.
He took a gardening class at the community college.
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.