Section 10.8 Participles
Before moving on to aspect, it helps to understand the verb forms that aspect constructions depend on. Throughout the auxiliary sections above, you encountered terms like “past participle” and “-ing form” without a formal explanation. These forms are called participles, and English has two of them. Every aspect combination in the next section is built from a tense marker plus one or both participle forms, so getting comfortable with them now will make the rest of the chapter much easier.
Participles are verb forms that combine with auxiliaries to build complex verb phrases. English has two: the present participle and the past participle.
Present Participle.
The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the base form of the verb. It is used with be to form progressive aspect.
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walk → walking
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run → running
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write → writing
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study → studying
Spelling rules for -ing:
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Most verbs: add -ing (walking, eating)
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Ending in silent -e: drop the e, add -ing (write → writing, hope → hoping)
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CVC ending (stressed): double the final consonant (run → running, stop → stopping)
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Ending in -ie: change to -ying (die → dying, lie → lying)
The present participle is always regular—every English verb forms it the same way.
Past Participle.
The past participle is used with have to form perfect aspect and with be to form passive voice. For regular verbs, it looks identical to the past tense (-ed). For irregular verbs, it often takes a different form.
Regular verbs (past participle = past tense):
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walk → walked → walked
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play → played → played
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study → studied → studied
Irregular verbs (past participle differs from past tense):
| Base Form | Past Tense | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| write | wrote | written |
| sing | sang | sung |
| go | went | gone |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| see | saw | seen |
| break | broke | broken |
How Participles Combine with Auxiliaries.
Each participle pairs with a specific auxiliary to create a specific meaning:
| Participle | Auxiliary | Construction | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present (-ing) | be | Progressive aspect | She is writing. |
| Past (-ed/irregular) | have | Perfect aspect | She has written. |
| Past (-ed/irregular) | be | Passive voice | The letter was written. |
Notice that the past participle does double duty: it works with have for perfect aspect and with be for passive voice. The auxiliary is what tells you which construction you are looking at.
