How to Use Present Participles

Participles can be used in various ways within a sentence, including:

• Creating Participial Phrases:
  • Participial phrases are phrases formed by a present participle and its modifiers, which function as adjectives to provide additional information about a noun or pronoun.
  • Examples:
    • Running quickly, she arrived at the finish line first. Here, the participial phrase “running quickly” describes the subject “she.”
    • Eating dinner, the family discussed their plans for the weekend. Here, the participial phrase “eating dinner” describes the subject “the family.”
• Forming Verb Tenses:
  • Present participles are used to form the continuous or progressive tenses in English, indicating actions that are ongoing or in progress.
  • Examples:
    • Present Continuous: She is studying for her exam. Here, the present participle “studying” is combined with the auxiliary verb “is” to form the present continuous tense.
    • Past Continuous: They were playing basketball when it started to rain. Here, the present participle “playing” is combined with the auxiliary verb “were” to form the past continuous tense.
• Functioning as Adjectives:
  • Present participles can also function as adjectives, modifying nouns or pronouns to provide descriptive information.
  • Examples:
    • The smiling child waved to her friends. Here, the present participle “smiling” modifies the noun “child.”
    • He saw the sleeping dog lying on the porch. Here, the present participle “sleeping” modifies the noun “dog.”
• Functioning as Gerunds:
  • Present participles can function as gerunds which are verb forms ending in “-ing” that act as nouns.
  • Examples:
    • Skiing is her favorite winter activity. Here, the present participle “skiing” acts as the subject of the sentence.
    • She enjoys reading in her free time. Here, the present participle “reading” acts as the object of the verb “enjoys.”

A present participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective and for making continuous verb tenses. Along with past participles, it is one of the two categories of participles.
Both regular and irregular verbs have present participles that finish in “-ing” (e.g., “travelling”).

Let’s know more about the Present principle’s meaning and its example in the article below.