Participle can be used as an attribute; adverbial modifier of time, cause, manner; predicative.
The fence surrounding the garden is newly painted. (attribute)
Having reached the classroom, she became the object of many questions. ( adverbial modifier of time)
Having been a little in that line myself, I understood it. (cause)
Gwendolen was silent, again looking at her hands. (manner)
The effect of her words was terrifying. (predicative)
The participle in the sentence is "Speaking," which is a present participle that functions as the present participle phrase at the beginning of the sentence. It describes the action being performed by Curt.
A gerund has the same spelling as the present participle of the same verb, but the gerund functions as a noun in a sentence and a participle does not.
Semantically, they are just syntactic sugar for a normal function definition.
The participle phrase in the sentence is "riding a horse." It functions as an adjective to describe the sheriff and the action he is performing.
"Riding" is the present participle form of the verb "ride". "Riding" usually functions in a sentence as a noun (gerund) or adjective (participle) or to introduce a phrase with one of those functions.
A participle that ends in "-ing" and functions as a noun is called a gerund. For example, in the sentence "Swimming is my favorite hobby," the word "swimming" is a gerund acting as the subject of the sentence. Gerunds can also function as objects or complements in sentences.
A gerund is a participle ending in "ing" that functions as a noun. It is formed by adding "ing" to the base form of a verb, and can act as the subject or object of a sentence, or as an object of a preposition.
The word "trained" can be both a participle and a gerund depending on its use in a sentence. As a participle, it functions as an adjective (e.g., "the trained dog"). As a gerund, it functions as a noun (e.g., "training is important").
Wishing can be both a participle and a gerund. As a participle, it functions as an adjective modifying a noun, while as a gerund, it acts as a noun representing an action or state. In the sentence "I am wishing for good health," wishing is a gerund.
Syntactic context refers to the grammatical structure and arrangement of words in a sentence or phrase. It helps determine the meaning of individual words or phrases based on their placement within a sentence and the relationships they have with other words. Understanding syntactic context is essential for interpreting language accurately.
In linguistics, the substitution test can help identify the syntactic category of a word by replacing it with a word from a different category to see if the sentence remains grammatically correct. This method helps determine whether the word functions as a noun, verb, adjective, or other part of speech based on its role in the sentence structure.
"Planning" can function as both a participle and a gerund. As a participle, it acts as an adjective modifying a noun (e.g., "the planning committee"). As a gerund, it functions as a noun in a sentence (e.g., "Planning is important").