Meaning
While verbs express what subjects do or what happens to subjects in a particular instance, Participle Adjectives provide information about an action or habit as a quality of the referent noun.
An Active Adjective describes something that the referent either does in the moment or is known for doing. The referent may instigate the verb, carry out the verb, or (in most cases) both. For example:
- A “rousing speech” is a speech that tends to rouse its listeners.
- A “working appliance” is one that is currently working or that works whenever it is turned on.
- A “chilling rain” is rain that chills those who step outside.
A Passive Adjective describes a condition that affects the referent, perhaps as the result of some action or event. Again, this may be true either regularly or just in the relevant moment. For example:
- A “frustrated employee” is a worker who has been frustrated by someone or something else.
- A “broken window” is a window that has been broken by some object or condition.
- A “starved dog” is a canine that has been affected by starvation.
Each of the examples above are attributive adjectives that come before the noun. In a later section of this page, we’ll see that Participle Adjectives can take other adjective placements as well.
Structure
Participle Forms
Participles are words rooted in verbs but with a special form (typically either the -ing suffix or the -ed/en suffix) that is paired with an active or passive meaning. When these verb forms do not play the main verbs of a clause but are instead used to modify nouns, they are called Participle Adjectives
- Active Adjectives take the form of Active Participles, ending with the -ing suffix.
- Passive Adjectives take the form of Passive Participles, ending with the -ed suffix if the root verb is regular. For irregular verbs, it may take on an -en suffix or undergo some other morphological change.
Ad-Ons
Prefixes
Active and Passive Adjectives can have prefixes in the same way that any adjective can. Consider ‘autotuned’, ‘comingling’, ‘disabling’, ‘interconnecting’, ‘misunderstood’, ‘overqualified’, ‘reappearing’, ‘underwhelming’, and ‘unsatisfying’ as just a few examples.
Compounds
Participle adjectives can be compounded with other words to provide more specificity. To form a compound, an adjective, adverb, or noun is joined to the front of the participle. Here are some examples:
- ADJECTIVE-PARTICIPLE COMPOUNDS: ‘deep-fried’, ‘easy-going’, ‘fresh-baked’, ‘good-looking’, ‘loose-fitting’, ‘quick-thinking’, ‘sweet-talking’, etc.
- ADVERB-PARTICIPLE COMPOUNDS: ‘dimly-lit’, ‘brightly-colored’, ‘far-reaching’, ‘long-lasting’, ‘newly-minted’, ‘poorly-marked’, ‘well-groomed’, etc.
- NOUN-PARTICIPLE COMPOUNDS: ‘award-winning’, ‘battery-powered’, ‘English-speaking’, ‘honey-glazed’, ‘record-breaking’, ‘time-consuming’, etc.
Most compound Participle Adjectives are hyphenated compounds. However, a closed compound (for which there is neither a space nor a hyphen between the two terms) may be used if the compound expression has become very commonplace for a substantial period of history. The adjectives ‘handmade’, ‘heartwarming’, and ‘sunburned’ are just a few examples.
Usage
Just Like Any Adjective
Active and Passive Adjectives are like any other adjectives, and thus can do whatever most other adjectives can do.
We can find and use Participle Adjectives in multiple positions within a sentence (see the adjectives in bold, with the referent nouns underlined):
- pre-nominal:
- “The sound of laughing children makes me smile.”
- “The hidden treasure might never be found.”
- post-nominal:
- “All students attending will be awarded a prize!”
- “He regarded the comment with no offense taken.”
- predicative:
- “Oh no, my earing is missing!”
- “The steak looks a bit undercooked.”
For pre-nominal and post-nominal adjectives, the verb implied by the Participle Adjective takes a back seat to the main verb of the clause, but instead simply adds more information about the referent. For predicative adjectives, on the other hand, the verb from the participle is more important than the main verb (since the main verbs primarily serve to link the referent to the adjective); even so, predicative Participle Adjectives communicate their modification of the referent noun rather than expressing an action.
Peripheral Actions
Active and Passive Adjectives typically imply that some action is taking place or has taken place. From the examples above, we know of the following actions: children laugh; someone hid the treasure; some students are or will be attending a lecture; the chief has undercooked the steak; etc.
However, those actions are not the focus of the sentence like the action (or state) of the main verb would be. Instead, they might be in the background of a scene.
While the primary purpose of Participle Adjectives is to describe or specify the referent, they can be used as a way to express an idea of a verb apart from the actual main verb of the clause.
Advanced Concepts
Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases are modifiers that begin with Active or Passive Participles but also include other words or phrases like adverbs, objects, and prepositional phrases. Taken all together, these phrases can modify nouns just like Participle Adjectives, or even modify verbs instead.
Examples of Participial Phrases can be found in: “Hidden by pirates long ago, the treasure may never be found,” and “All students attending tonight’s lecture will be awarded a prize!”
Participial Phrases have a lot in common with Participle Adjectives, and there are instances when the distinction between the two is unclear. But there are also some significant differences. Visit the Participial Phrases page for more.
Overlap with Main Verbs
When Participle Adjectives are in the predicate position, they might look very similar to — or sometimes even indistinguishable from — certain constructions of main verbs.
- Is the participle in “Is your refrigerator running?” an Active Adjective or a verb in the Present Continuous tense?
- Is the participle in “The lake is frozen.” a Passive Adjective or a verb in the Passive Voice?
This is no coincidence, as these participles consistently carry their same general meaning regardless of which part of speech they serve as. There is a bit of a different connotation for each of these sentences depending on whether the participle is an adjective or a verb, but that difference is slight, and in some contexts either version may be appropriate.
Visit the Active Participles page or the Passive Participles page to learn how these forms carry their meaning throughout different applications.
Substantive Adjectives
The different placements of adjectives is covered in an earlier section of this page, but it should be known that Active and Passive Adjectives can also be substantive adjectives. These are words that usually modify a noun directly (as adjectives do), but in a given context represent all nouns for which the adjective applies, as in “We’re raising money for the poor.” While ‘poor’ is an adjective, it serves the role of a noun in this sentence.
A Participle Adjective version of this might be “Our organization provides comfort to the distressed.” So, ‘distressed’ is a noun that is based on an adjective that is rooted in a verb. Perhaps it’s best not to think about it too deeply!
Teaching Tips
Participles & Consistent Meaning
An Active Participle will almost always communicate that its subject or referent (or whatever the pertinent noun is) actively engages in the participle’s verb by causing it or by carrying it out in the moment, often both. This is true for Continuous tenses, Gerunds, Verb Patterns, and Active Adjectives.
Similarly, a Passive Participle will almost always communicate the participle’s verb has some effect which affects its subject or referent (or whatever the pertinent noun is). This is true for Passive Voice, Causatives, and Passive Adjectives.
In other words, there is an inherent link between form and meaning.
Drawing connections between different applications of participles might help students better understand these meanings, and help them to remember it. For instance, if students understand how the -ing form in Continuous tenses and Gerunds both have an active meaning, they’re more likely to understand how -ing adjectives are set apart from -ed/en adjectives.
Insider Access
Visit our How to Teach Active & Passive Participles page on www.insightstoEnglish.com for a demonstrational video, bonus notes, printouts, a slideshow for your class, practice activities, and more.
Further Reading
Encyclopedia Pages
- Participles — more on the -ing and the -ed/en forms
- Gerunds — the -ing form as nouns instead of adjectives
- Passive Voice — another application of the -ed/en participle
Insights Articles
- project: Natural Disasters
- project: Gestures
- Writing with Colors
Intermediate Topics
CEFR Levels B1-B2: Pre-Intermediate to Upper Intermediate courses
Complex Sentences
Verbals
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
