A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics
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/ n. Any of various non-finite verb forms which can act as the heads of verb phrases functioning as adjectival or adverbial modifiers. English exhibits an imperfective participle (or ‘present participle’) in -ing and a passive participle (or ‘past participle’) of variable formation, as illustrated in the examples The woman lighting a cigarette is Lisa; Arriving at work, I found a message waiting for me; The child rescued from the well is now in hospital; Exhausted by his efforts, he tumbled into bed.
The label ‘participle’ is also usually extended to non-finite forms which do not function in this way but which serve to combine with auxiliaries in the formation of periphrastic verb forms; an example is the English perfect participle, such as finished in Lisa has finished her translation. (The perfect participle and the passive participle are usually identical in form in English, but it is convenient to distinguish them syntactically.) Adj. participial.
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