The past participles are formed by adding –ed to the base form of regular verbs (fire – fired, jump – jumped, move – moved) or by adding other endings to the base form of irregular verbs (be – been; feel – felt, hide – hidden) as they do not end in –ed or by changing their spellings (fight – fought, see – saw, teach – taught). The past participle expresses a completed action in the past. It must come after the helping verbs or auxiliary verbs have (have, has, had) to form the perfect tenses in the active voice or be (is, are, was, were) in the passive voice. The past participle may also be used as adjectives to modify nouns or pronouns. When it modifies a noun, it functions as an adjective and is known as a participial adjective.
Examples:
- She has broken another of my glasses. (Present perfect)
- Many passersby have accepted the leaflets that we are handing out. (Present perfect)
- The hospital had already discharged her when we arrived to visit her. (Past perfect)
- By the end of this month, her sister will have given birth to her seventh child. (Future perfect)
Examples:
- She is given the nickname 'Chatterbox' because she talks much more than others. (Present tense)
- The children are paid to carry banners reading ‘The world will end soon!’ (Present tense)
- The injured are being airlifted to the nearest hospital. (Present continuous tense)
- The two have been told to keep quiet in the library. (Present perfect tense)
- He was reprimanded for using a four-letter word. (Past tense)
- He had been warned not to keep the porcupine as pet. (Past perfect tense)
- Painting of the doghouse will have been completed by the time the dog arrived. (Future perfect tense)
Examples:
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More than one newspaper had the same headline saying, ‘It’s a one-sided match.’
(The past participle one-sided acts an adjective modifying the noun match.)
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The farmer was found guilty of receiving a stolen cow.
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The polluted river stinks of rotten eggs.
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The wounded victim died in the ambulance.
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The soldiers were shot for straying into the disputed territory.