What is the description of a participle?

Answer 1

In English, a participle is a certain verb form used in construction with an auxiliary verb. After the perfect auxiliary "have", you get the perfect participle, ordinarily formed by suffixing "-ed". After the progressive auxiliary "be", you get the progressive participle, formed by suffixing "-ing". After the passive auxiliary "be", you get the passive participle, ordinarily formed by suffixing "-ed". Sometimes an archaic "-en" has not been replaced by "-ed".

The perfect and passive participles are often termed "past participles" (though there is no associated past tense meaning), and the progressive is often termed "present participle" (though there is no associated present tense meaning).

The participles are sometimes treated as adjectives which are derived from verbs, but this doesn't work well for English. Though the very same suffixes, "-ing"/"-ed" are occasionally used in deriving adjectives as well as deriving participles, inviting confusion, participles are not adjectives. The adverb modifier "very" can usually be used with adjectives, but not with participles. Note *"The child is very sleeping" and *"The man was very shot in the foot".