Question

Present Participle:

Example: A rolling stone gathers no moss.

In this sentence ‘rolling’ describes ‘stone’. We can use words like ‘round’ ‘smooth’ and so on to describe a stone. These words are all adjectives. Hence, we can see that ‘rolling’ functions like an adjective in this sentence. It is in the form of verb + ing (roll + ing). Such verbs in their ‘íng’ form functioning like adjectives in sentences are called Present Participles. (The ‘íng’ forms of verbs used with auxiliaries like am, is, are, was, were, be and been as in ‘I am writing a letter.’ are also called present participles.)

Characteristics of Present Participle They are all verbs that end in ‘ing’. They function like adjectives in sentences. They describe an unfinished action. They can be used with all the tenses. (The time of action is shown by the finite verbs in the sentences.)

Answer 1

Present Participle