Form
Regular Verbs
The vast majority of verbs take on the -ed suffix for both their past form and their Perfect Participle form. For example, the verbs ‘smile’, ‘dry’, and ‘wonder’ become ‘smiled’, ‘dried’, and ‘wondered’, respectively. Notice some details about the spelling: first, words that end with a silent e do not double the e by adding the -ed suffix; second, a y following a consonant at the end of the root verb becomes an i when the -ed suffixes is added.
Irregular Verbs
There are not many irregular verbs (roughly 175, when only counting root verbs), but we encounter them often since they rank among the most frequently-used verbs in the English language. About half of irregulars have an identical form for both their past form and their Perfect Participle, while the other half have different forms. There are a few ways that an irregular verb can take on a Perfect Participle form:
- with a new ending, like changing a d to a t (‘build’, ‘send’ → ‘built’, sent’) or adding an n or en (‘fall’, ‘grow’ → ‘fallen’, ‘grown’);
- with a vowel shift, especially i sounds transforming into o or u sounds (‘bind’, ‘stick’, ‘win’ → ‘bound’, ‘stuck’, ‘won’);
- with both a vowel shift and a new ending (‘drive’, ‘fly’, ‘leave’, ‘tell’ → ‘driven’, ‘flown’, ‘left’, ‘told’) or transforming into the unique ought ending (‘catch’, ‘fight’ → ‘caught’, ‘fought’);
- with no change at all, not even the -ed ending (‘bet’, ‘come’, ‘hit’, ‘shut’ → ‘bet’, ‘come’, ‘hit’, ‘shut’).
Distinctions between Perfect and Passive
The Passive Participle form is almost always identical to the Perfect Participle form, though there are some rare exceptions — while ‘cleaved’, ‘drunk’, ‘fit’, ‘melted’, and ‘sunk’ are used for Perfect Tenses, ‘cleft’ (or ‘cloven’), ‘drunken’, ‘fitted’, ‘molten’, and ‘sunken’ are used for Passive Adjectives.
Furthermore, Perfect Participles are almost always preceded by some form of the auxiliary verb HAVE, while Passive Participles are not.
It could be argued that static intransitive verbs do not have Passive Participle forms. For example, thrive is only an action that a subject can taken, not an action that can be done to an object. Therefore, we cannot use ‘thrived’ or ‘thriven’ as a Passive Voice verb or as a Passive Adjectives.
Perfect Applications
Perfect Participles communicate that the verb has already begun, and the whole of the verb may or may not be completed. But more than that, Perfect Tenses communicate the outcome of the verb. There may be some intentional effects, incidental byproducts, or a new status quo that may directly or indirectly result from the verb. A speaker using a Perfect Participle places more emphasis on the outcome than on the incident of the verb itself.
Perfect Tenses
Perfect tenses are used to relate experiences, results, and statuses that are true of the relevant time frame, which may be past, present, or future. In all cases, the verb began before that time frame, but the lingering effects are still relevant.
- In the example, “Harry has eaten way too much,” the verb ‘eat’ happened previously (and is probably completed by now, but not necessarily). But what’s more important than the action of eating is Harry’s current state; he feels overly full, and maybe he’s not feeling well, or perhaps he’s having difficulty performing whatever task has been set before him.
In Perfect tenses, the verb HAVE comes immediately before the Perfect Participle. The form of HAVE depends on subject-verb agreement, on whether the verb is past, and on whether any modal verbs are included. In all cases, the verb that follows a form of HAVE should always be in the Perfect Participle form.
- “Gloria has forgotten her luggage.” [Present Perfect]
- “Gloria’s friends have forgotten their luggage.” [Present Perfect]
- “Gloria had forgotten her luggage before she left for the airport.” [Past Perfect]
- “Gloria will have forgotten her luggage by the time the taxi arrives.” [Future Perfect]
Perfect Modals
Some modal verbs can be expressed as what we might call perfect modals when they are coupled with the word ‘have’. Most of the time (for Epistemic and Deontic modals), this indicates the verb phrase took place in the past; but for Dynamic modals, the perfect form might indicate an Unreal Mood. The verb that follows a perfect modal should be in the Perfect Participle form.
- “Dad’s not home yet; he must have gotten stuck in traffic.” [Epistemic Past]
- “He should have left earlier.” [Deontic Past]
- “If he hadn’t dillydallied, he could have been here by now.” [Dynamic Unreal]
Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases are modifying phrases (much like Prepositional Phrases) that have a participle as the head of the clause. The perfect variation of these includes the word ‘having’ before the Perfect Participle. Such phrases can modify nouns, verbs, or clauses.
- “Dana, having searched the room only to come up dry, concluded that the missing earing was not there.”
- “Moesha stood just past the doorframe with a blank expression, having forgotten why she walked in.”
Passive Applications
Passive Participles communicate that the verb has happened to the pertinent noun (whether that’s the subject of a passive verb or the referent of a passive modifier). Again, the verb of the participle may or may not be completed. The incident of the verb might not be significant in the context, but even when it is, there is more focus placed on its effect.
Passive Voice
Most sentences are by default constructed in the Active Voice, which simply means that the subject is the noun that does the action of the verb or that possesses the state of the verb. Passive Voice, on the other hand, express that the verb happens to the subject.
In Passive Voice, the auxiliary BE comes immediately before the Passive Participle. The form of BE depends on subject-verb agreement, on whether the verb is past, and on whether any modal verbs are included. In all cases, the verb that follows a form of BE should always be in the Passive Participle form.
- “Miguel was captured by the other team.” [Past Simple in Perfect Voice]
- “Miguel’s friends were captured by the other team.” [Past Simple in Perfect Voice]
- “Miguel has been captured by the other team.” [Present Perfect in Perfect Voice]
- “Miguel will be captured by the other team.” [Future Simple in Perfect Voice]
Passive Adjectives
Participle Adjectives behave the same way as most other adjectives. For instance, they can come before the noun they modify, or they can come after a linking verb. Passive Participle Adjectives suggest that the referent has been affected by the verb of the participle (which is typically not also that sentence’s verb).
- “I need to repair that broken window.” ← (‘break’ happened to the window previously)
- “The abandoned house will be demolished soon.” ← (‘abandon’ happened to the house previously)
- “That poor creature looks hurt!” ← (‘hurt’ happened to the creature previously)
Participial Phrases
Again, Participial Phrases are modifying phrases that have a participle as the head of the clause. The passive variation of these do not feature any form of the word have as an auxiliary verb before the Passive Participle.
- “Enhanced with the latest technology, my entertainment system is the most advanced in the neighborhood.”
- “The legendary island is filled with toys forgotten long ago.”
Causatives
In the Causative Structure, the subject does not directly enact the verb, but instead enlists another agent (who may or may not be referenced) to do so. One variation of Causatives uses the Passive Participle to express what should be done to the direct object with emphasis on the final results. Word like ‘get’ and ‘have’ are often used in conjunction with these participles.
- “Phil’s car is having trouble; he needs to get it repaired soon.” ← (Phil won’t do the repairing; a mechanic will)
- “Have the gift returned to the store before 30 days to get a refund.”← (You can return it yourself, or have someone else go on your behalf)
Teaching Tips
Redefining Terms
The most common term for this verb form is ‘Past Participle’. However, this term can be confusing for language learners, and it’s even misleading in most applications. We strongly advise that teachers instead use either ‘Perfect Participle’ or ‘Passive Participle’, since these terms better reflect both the meaning that the participles convey and the grammar topics that feature them.
You may use ‘Perfect Participle’ and ‘Passive Participle’ interchangeably, or just pick one and stick with it. While Insights likes to recognize the difference between them, that distinction is probably insignificant for English learners in most cases.
Drawing Connections
It may be helpful to draw a connection between multiple applications of the same type of participle.
For instance, you may notice that the Perfect/Passive Participle is featured in Perfect tenses, Passive Voice, and Passive Adjectives. But it’s not just a verb form that’s similar; we can also see that all three applications focus more on the effects of the verb than on the incident of the verb itself.
Sorting Irregulars
Most Irregular Verbs lists are arranged alphabetically, which is ideal for looking up a particular word. But this arrangement is not particularly helpful for memorization or for understanding morphological patterns. To help students become better acquainted with the various ways an irregular verb can change, encourage students to sort the irregulars themselves; there’s more than one right way to group them. Or take advantage of Insights to English’s interactive Irregular Verbs List:
Further Reading
| Related Concepts | Applied Grammar Topics |
|---|---|
Infinitives & Participles
Types
Bare Infinitives • Full Infinitives • Active Participles • Perfect/Passive Participles
Full Infinitive topics
Active Participle topics
Active Adjectives • Future Continuous • Gerunds • Participial Phrases • Past Continuous • Present Continuous • Present Perfect Continuous • Verb Patterns
Perfect Participle topics
Future Perfect • Perfect Modals • Participial Phrases • Past Perfect • Present Perfect • Present Perfect Continuous
