Verbal Features of Participle I
The verbal nature of Participle I reveals itself both at the morphological and syntactic levels.
Morphologically, the verbal nature of Participle I manifests itself in the grammatical categories of phase and voice. The category of phase in Participle I finds its expression in the opposition of non-perfect and perfect forms. Perfect Participle I indicates that the action denoted by Participle I is prior to that denoted by the finite verb, e.g.:
Having completed the job, the men left early
Syntactically, the verbal nature of Participle I manifests itself in the following features.
1. Its right-hand combinability with objects, adverbials, and predicatives when the participle happens to be a copula. Cf: Having finished the dress, Mary packed it carefully in a box - object.
Having recovered completely, Ted left the hospital - adverbial.
All being well, we should arrive by - predicative.
2. Its left-hand combinability with a subjectival member indicating the doer of the action denoted by Participle I, e.g.:
Can you see the girl dancing with your brother?
3. The function of realizing the verbal component of primary predication when Participle I makes part of a simple verbal or compound nominal predicate. Cf.:
She is reading a newspaper
It is very distressing to me, sir, to give this information
4. The function of realizing the verbal component of secondary predication when Participle I makes part of a complex member of the sentence or forms a parenthesis. Cf.:
We saw an old man lying on the road
Generally speaking, men can run faster than women
Adjectival and Adverbial Features of Participle 1
The adjectival and adverbial features of Participle I manifest themselves at the syntactic level, namely in the functions of attributes (both prepositive and postpositive) and adverbials. The prepositive attribute is usually expressed by a single participle, the postpositive attribute and the adverbial - by a participial phrase. Cf:
I think it is only a passing shower (D. du Maurier).
I like the girl sitting on the right (M. Swan).
Putting down my newspaper, I walked over to the window and looked out (M. Swan).
Participle I and the Gerund
Participle I and the gerund are homonymous in form: 'the stem of a verb + the suffix -ing'. They are also identical in their verbal characteristics, both morphological (the categories of phase and voice) and syntactic (the combinability with objects, adverbials, predicatives, and subjectival members).
H. Sweet calls the mg-form in such cases a 'half-gerund1, H.W. Fowler - a 'fused participle".
Since Participle I and the gerund are identical in their form and verbal characteristics, E. Kruisinga, L.S. Barkhudarov, E.M. Gordon and LP. Krylova regard them as one form, which they call the ing-form. The latter is debatable. First of all, Participle I and the gerund differ in meaning. Participle I expresses an action as characterizing a person or thing (like an adjective) or as modifying another action (like an adverb). The gerund expresses an action in its most general sense, actually naming it, and therefore looks more like a noun. This is most evident when they function as predicatives or attributes. As predicative. Participle I gives a qualitative characteristic to the subject, e.g.:
When she finished speaking, the applause was deafening (
The gerund does not qualify the subject, it rather identifies the subject by revealing its meaning, e.g.: One of my bad habits is biting my nails
As attribute, Participle I denotes an action that the person or thing performs or experiences, e.g. a running stream (i.e. a stream which is running). The nuclear stress is on the noun stream as in all adjective-noun word combinations. Cf.:
a 'running "stream,
a 'deep "stream.
The gerund usually reveals the meaning of the modified noun, which never denotes the performer of the action, e.g. running shoes does not mean 'shoes that are running', but 'shoes used or intended for running'. The attributive gerund running here is a label for a subclass of shoe and could be replaced by a noun, e.g. sports shoes. The nuclear stress is on the wig-form as in all noun-noun word combinations. Cf:
"running 'shoes,
"sports 'shoes.
Participle I and the Adjective
Adjectivized participles behave like adjectives.
1. They can combine with adjectives proper, e.g.:
... Mrs. Foster was and had always been a good and loving wife
2. They can be modified by adverbs of degree, e.g.:
The Vice Chairman has a very charming wife and four children
3. Sometimes they form degrees of comparison, e.g.:
The most interesting thing about dinosaurs is the fact that they all died out so suddenly
4. Adverbs can be formed from them by the suffix -ly, e.g.: loving - lovingly:
They looked at each other lovingly
Participle II
Many Russian linguists regard Participle 1 and Participle II as one non-finite form of the verb [e.g. V.N. Zhigadlo, LP. Ivanova, L.L. Iofik; B.S. Khaimovich, B.L Rogovskaya; V.L. Kaushanskaya and her co-authors, etc.].
But Participle II stands apart not only from Participle I but also from all the other verbals.
It seems to be more of an adjective, than of a verb.
In the first place, its main meaning is that of state resulting from a certain action. And the meaning of state is more common to adjectives than to verbs.
In the second place, Participle II lacks the verbal categories of phase and voice.
In the third place, Participle II performs the syntactic functions of attribute and predicative that are typical of adjectives. Cf.:
We passed through several deserted villages whose inhabitants had fled
The beach was deserted and unsafe for bathing according to the guidebook
In the fourth place, Participle II, just like adjectives, can be modified by adverbs of degree, e.g.:
I'm very pleased you've decided to come
In the fifth place, just like adjectives, Participle II is often made negative by the prefix ий-, e.g.: finished - unfinished.
In the sixth place, Participle II may form part of compound adjectives, e.g.: state-owned.
In the seventh place, adverbs can be formed from Participle II with the help of the suffix -ly. Cf.:
excited - excitedly,
unhurried - unhurriedly.
Nevertheless, we are not justified in referring Participle II to adjectives because, just like other verbals, it has certain verbal characteristics, too.
First, Participle И does not always have the meaning of state. When Participle II is formed from a non-terminative verb, it does denote state, e.g.: a well-known writer. When it is formed from a terminative verb or a verb of double nature, it denotes a completed action, e.g.: a murdered man.
Second, although Participle II lacks the voice opposition, it does not mean that it has no voice meanings whatsoever. Participle II of transitive verbs is passive in meaning, e.g.:
The house was furnished by an interior designer
Participle II of intransitive verbs is active in meaning, e.g.: an escaped prisoner, a grown-up daughter Third, Participle II can combine with objects, e.g.:
The army, surprised by the attack, fled into the woods
Fourth, Participle II can be modified by an adverbial, e.g.:
The house, remodelled recently, is very attractive
Fifth, it can take part in realizing primary predication as part of a simple verbal or compound nominal predicate. Cf.:
Mr. Hooper has gone to London
In spite of himself, Val was impressed
Sixth, it can take part in realizing secondary predication in predicative constructions, e.g.:
I really must have my watch repaired
Predicative Constructions with Participles
The English participle forms four predicative constructions:
1) the objective participial construction
I heard someone laughing
2) the subjective participial construction
They were heard talking together
3) the nominative absolute participial construction
It being now pretty late, we took our candles and went upstairs
This duty completed, he had three months' leave
4) the prepositional absolute participial construction
They were walking on again, with Hugh calmly drawing at his pipe (J. Lindsay).
The daughter sat quite silent and still, with her eyes fixed on the ground