Present participle

“ The present participle, or the participle in -ing, must be considered in respect to its relations with the substantive in -ing. Dying-day is, probably, no more a participle than morning-walk. In respect to the syntax of such expressions as the forthcoming, I consider that they are either participles or substantives.
1. When substantives, they are in regimen, and govern a genitive case—What is the meaning of the lady's holding up her train? Here the word holding = the act of holding.—Quid est significatio elevationis pallæ de parte fœminæ. ”

“ Principal Parts.+—The main forms of the verb—so important as to be called the principal parts because the other parts are formed from them— are the root infinitive, the preterite (past) indicative, and the past participle [move, moved, moved; sing, sang, sung; be, was, been] . The present participle is sometimes given with the principal parts.
+56. Inflection.+—As is evident from the preceding paragraph, verbs have certain changes of form to indicate change of meaning. Such a change or inflection, in the case of the noun, is called declension; in the case of the verb it is called conjugation. ”

“ The progressive form is a verb-phrase made by prefixing to the present participle some form of the verb to be.
So in the other tenses:
257. In the passive, the progressive forms are confined to the present and the past tense.
He is being helped by his brother. [Present.] I am being trained by Arthur Ray. [Present.] When I called, tea was being served. [Past.] 258. In subordinate clauses, the verb is (in its various forms) with its subject is often omitted in progressive phrases. ”

“ The combination with the participle of the verb substantive, I have been; thou hast been; he has been.
It is by examples of the first of these three divisions that the true construction is to be shown.
For an object of any sort to be in the possession of a person, it must previously have existed. If I possess a horse, that horse must have had a previous existence.
Hence, in all expressions like I have ridden a horse, there are two ideas, a past idea in the participle, and a present idea in the word denoting possession. ”

“ The objective case expresses the object of an action or of a relation. It generally follows a transitive verb, a participle, or a preposition.
A noun is in the objective case when it is the object of something. At present I shall explain this case only as the object of an action; but when we shall have advanced as far as to the preposition, I will also illustrate it as the object of a relation.
An active verb is transitive when the action passes over from the subject or nominative to an object; as, Richard strikes John. ”

“ The present active and future passive participles are formed from the present stem, and the future active and perfect passive participles are formed from the participial stem. b. The present active participle is formed by adding -ns to the present stem. ”

“ Fossil participles as adjectives.
3. As learned a man may live in a cottage or a college commmon-room.—Thackeray
4. Not merely to the soldier are these campaigns interesting —Bayne.
5. How charming is divine philosophy!—Milton.
Forms of the participle.
264. Participles, in expressing action, may be active or passive, incomplete (or imperfect) , complete (perfect or past) , and perfect definite.
They cannot be divided into tenses (present, past, etc.) , because they have no tense of their own, but derive their tense from the verb on which they depend; for example,—
1. ”

“ In the expression, "to take for granted," we have a participle attached to a verb by means of a preposition, as an object needful to complete it; and the next group shows two nouns, "talk and discourse," combined by the conjunction "and," so as to spare the repetition of the verb "to find," to which they both serve as "objects." ”

“ So, if we put before it an article, an adjective, or a possessive, and thus give to the participle a substantive character or relation, there is reason to think, that we ought, in like manner, to take away its regimen, and its adverb too, if it have any, and be careful also to distinguish this noun from the participial adjective; as, "The running of a race,"—"No racing of horses,"—"Your deserving of praise."—"A man's compromising of his principles." ”

“ This participle is sometimes used substantively; thus, “The loving are the daring.” “The slain were left to die.” Of course such a word as people is understood after these participles, and in analyzing these sentences it may be supplied if one so desires, but it is no more necessary than it is in the sentences,—“The good are happy, the righteous are blessed,” where a qualifying adjective is used as a noun.
2. The participial phrase as a substitute for a proposition.—We come now to those frequent and important uses of the participle where it saves a predication. ”

“ These words illustrate one form of the verb (the participle) , and look in 1, paragraph 1, illustrates the other form (the infinitive) , spoken of in Lesson 11 as not asserting. Change each of these participles to a predicate, or asserting form, and then read the sentences in which these predicates are found. You will notice that giving these words the asserting form makes them more prominent and forcible—brings them up to a level with the other predicate verbs. Participles are very useful in slurring over the less important actions that the more important may have prominence. ”

“ A participle with its adjuncts, may sometimes be considered as a substantive or participial phrase, which phrase may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or preposition; as, "Taking from another without his knowledge or assent, is called stealing; He studied to avoid expressing himself too severely; I cannot fail of having money, &c.; By promising much and performing but little, we become despicable."
3. As the perfect participle and the imperfect tense of irregular verbs, are sometimes different in their form, care must be taken that they be not indiscriminately used. ”

“ Understood is a perfect participle, from the irregular active-transitive verb, understand, understood, understanding, understood. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun ”

“ Better, “He abhorred debt,” “Cavilling and objecting upon any subject is much easier than clearing up difficulties.” Say, “To cavil and object upon any subject is much easier than to clear up difficulties.”
Omit “of”
Active participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived. The preposition of, therefore, should not be used after the participle, when the verb would not require it. ”

“ Participial Construction—A participle and its modifiers used as the subject or object of a verb.
Phrase—An expression, consisting usually of but a few words, denoting a single idea, or forming a separate part of a sentence.
Predicate (of a Sentence) —That which is said of the subject. See subject.
Principal Verb—The verb in the main statement of a sentence.
Pronominal Adjective—An adjective used as a pronoun.
Rhetoric—The art of perfecting man's power of communicating to others his mental acts or states by means of language: art of discourse. ”

“ When the subject is not the same, the clause is condensed into what has been termed an absolute phrase; as, “Nature, [Pg 134] her patience with him being ended, leaves him desolate.”—Carlyle.
The absolute phrase consists essentially of a substantive and a participle, having to each other the logical relation of subject and predicate. In the sentence quoted the phrase is equivalent to the adverbial clause of cause, because her patience with him is ended. ”

“ The remedy is to convert the participle into a verb depending on a conjunction: "Because we are by nature careless, &c.;" or to convert the participle into a verb co-ordinate with the principal verb, e.g. "We are by nature careless, &c., and therefore we allow ourselves, &c."
*34. Suspensive Conjunctions, e.g. "either," "not only," "on the one hand," add clearness.*—Take the following sentence:—"You must take this extremely perilous course, in which success is uncertain, and failure disgraceful, as well as ruinous, or else the liberty of your country is endangered." ”

“ OBS. 7.—An imperfect or a preperfect participle, preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or pronoun of the possessive case, becomes a verbal or participial noun; and, as such, it cannot with strict propriety, govern an object after it. A word which may be the object of the participle in its proper construction, requires the preposition of, to connect it with the verbal noun ”

“ A part of a sentence, or even a single participle, thus often stands for a noun. 'My going will depend on my father's giving his consent,' or 'on my father's consenting.' A participle thus used as a noun, may be called a PARTICIPIAL NOUN."--Ib., p. 131. I dislike this doctrine also. In the first example, man may well be made the leading word in sense; and, as such, it must be in the objective case; thus: "There has been no instance of a man accomplishing a task so stupendous." ”

“ The participial adjective.—The one use of the participle which is almost identical with that of the adjective is seen in such expressions as running water, trotting horse, educated man, spoiled child. Here the idea Of action is not so prominent as that of quality. Some of these participles have become so far like adjectives as to admit of comparison; for example, striking in such an expression as striking appearance, or deceiving in deceiving story. Some of them, too, may be modified by very, which is never a verb modifier; as, loving in very loving children. ”

“ It is better to use "men walking" to mean "men when they walk." If the relative is meant, use "men that walk," instead of the participle.
(1) "While he was } Walking on { (1) the road, } he fell." (2) "Because he was } { (2) the ice, }
When the participle precedes the subject, it generally implies a cause: "Seeing this, he retired." Otherwise it generally has its proper participial meaning, e.g. "He retired, keeping his face towards us." If there is any ambiguity, write "on seeing,"—"at the same time, or while, keeping." ”

“ INFINITIVE MOOD.
PARTICIPLES.
NOTE. The perfect participle of a regular verb, corresponds exactly with the imperfect tense; yet the former may, at all times, be distinguished from the latter, by the following rule: In composition, the imperfect tense of a verb always has a nominative, either expressed or implied: the perfect participle never has. ”

“ Giving me a friendly nod, he passed on. [Here nod is the direct object of giving, and me is the indirect object.] The participle, with its modifiers and such other words as are attached to it, is sometimes called a participial phrase.
342. A participle may be used as a pure adjective.
A grinning boy confronted me. A battered hat hung on the peg. Kate was playing with a broken doll. We could hear a rushing stream. Willing hands make light work. He was struck by a spent ball. 343. The past participle is often used as a predicate adjective expressing state or condition. ”

“ Such a participle is truly a modifier of the verb.
4. The participle as part of a double object.—After a few verbs like keep, find, see, hear, feel, have, we find the participle taking the place of the infinitive in a double object. The participle is almost always chosen when a passive construction is needed; as, “The saddle fell to earth, and he heard it trampled under-foot by his pursuer.”—Irving. When the active construction is called for, the advantage of the participle over the infinitive is that it gives the idea of longer continuance of the action ”

“ It is not usually so close a [Pg 130] modifier of the noun, either in relation or position, as many other noun adjuncts are; often it is so loosely joined to its noun as to seem almost like a parenthetical element. When the noun it modifies is the subject of the sentence, then the great importance of the participle as a sentence-element lies in the fact that it is a convenient means of avoiding a predication.
Participial Forms.—The participial forms of the transitive verb are six.
Active—Seeing, having seen.
Active progressive—Having been seeing. ”

“ The adjective or participle that follows, always relates to the preceding objective; and if a noun is used, it is but an other objective in apposition with the former: as, "I considered it an imposition." The verb to be, with the perfect participle, forms the passive infinitive; and the supposition of such an ellipsis, extensively affects one's mode of parsing. ”

“ Does an ellipsis of the verb or participle change this construction into apposition? 88. Is it ever right to put both terms before the verb? 89. What kinds of words can take different cases after them? 90. Can a participle which is governed by a preposition, have a case after it which is governed by neither? 91. How is the word man to be parsed in the following example? "The atrocious crime of being a young man, I shall neither attempt to palliate, nor deny." ”