Past Participle - Formation of Past Participles

Past Participle

The past participle is a non-finite form of the verb by means of which certain tenses are built.

I have written , I had written , I shall have written , I should have

written

The perfect infinitive , the perfect participle and perfect gerund also contain a past participle :

to have gone

having danced

having dwelt

Formation of Past Participles

Regular verbs form their past participle in the same way in which they form their preterite by adding –ed and –d :

to talk – talked , to like – liked

Irregular verbs have irregular past participles :

to break – broken

to weave – woven

to drive – driven

Pronounciation

The suffix –ed is pronounced :

a. [d] – the verbs that end in vowal or consonant (exception d)

to carry – carried

to travel – travelled

to dive – dived

to discover – discovered

b. [t] – the verbs ending in deaf consonant (exception –t)

to ask – asked [a : skt]

to pass – passed [pa:st]

to tap – tapped

c. [id] – verbs ending –d or –t :

to add – added

to start – started [sta:tid]

Note

a. When the past participle became an adjective , the suffix –ed of the adjective is sometimes pronounced [id] :

an aged woman

my beloved wife

a learned scholar

a naked [neikid] truth

ragged [ rægid] children

When the same words are used as verbal participles , the ending –ed is no longer pronounced [id] , but according to the rules mentioned above (a,b)

He had aged considerably.

(A imbatranit )

Haven’t you learned your lesson?

(Nu te-ai invatat lectia?)

Haven’t you loved your profession?

(Nu ti-ai iubit meseria?)

b. Exceptionally, in poetry , when the rhyme or the metre ask –ed and the participle used verbally, -ed is sometimes pronounced [id], the same pronounciation being shown the help of a strong accent :

With twenty trenched gashes on his head.

(William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth )

Spelling

a. The verbs ended in a consonant preceded by an only strong vowal double the consonant before –ed :

to rub – rubbed

to knit – knitted

to prefer – preferred

to regret – regretted

to demit – demitted

In the other cases , the final consonant is not doubled :

to seat – seated

to hang – hanged

to order – ordered

Exception :

to worship - worshipped

Observation

The compound words ended in –p follow the above rule applied only to the final word :

to horsewhip – horsewhipped

to sideslip – sideslipped

to kidnap – kidnapped

b. final –l is always doubled , no matter the accent :

to 'equal - 'equalled

to rival - 'rivalled

to 'travel - 'travelled

to ful'fil – fulfilled

Exception :

un'paralleled

c. –ic becomes –ick

to mimic – mimicked

to traffic – trafficked

d. final –y preceded by a consonant changes into –i

to cry – cried

to carry – carried

-y preceded by a vowal stays the same :

to play – played

to disobey – disobeyed

e. the verbs ending in –e drop the –e before the ending –ed

to dance – danced

to tie – tied

to dye – dyed

As we have already mentioned , irregular verbs have irregular past participles , but there are certain past participles which have double forms :

to awake – awoke , awaked

to broadcast – broadcast , broadcasted

to dream – dreamt , dreamed

to hide – hidden , hid

to lean – leant , leaned

to leap – leapt , leaped

to learn – learnt , learned

to light – lighted , lit

to smell – smelled , smelt

to spell – spelled , spelt

to spill – spilled , spilt

On the other hand, a number of past participles have parallel adjectival forms – forms , although originating in past participles discharge no verbal function at present and are looked upon as adjectives. Thus :

bound past participle and bounded adjective

died past participle and dead adjective (a dead man)

drunk past participle and drunken adjective (a drunken man)

loved past participle and beloved adjective

shrunk past participle and shrunken adjective:contracted in size

sunk past participle and sunken adjective (sunken ship)

The Morphological Function of the Past Participle

The morphological function of the past participle is verbal as may be seen from the fact :

a. that it forms past of certain active compound tenses :

Present Perfect : I have eaten

Past Perfect : I have bought

Future Perfect : I shall have drunk

Conditional Past : I should have read

Eaten , bought , drunk , read are verbal forms : they can in no way be interpreted as adjectives owing to their used immediately after the verb have (which cannot be accompanied by adjectives) although in the earlier stages of the languages.

“I have written “ was “I have a letter written” , where written was an adjective (it agreed with letter).

b. that it is part of passive forms

Present Tense Continuous : The house is being built.

Present Perfect : The problem has been written.

Past Tense : He was asked to help.

Future Tense Simple :The lecture will be held tomorrow.

Built , written , asked , held are verbal forms for they are integrated in a process (is being built), show an action and not a state or characteristic (has been written will be held) sometimes with the indication of the agent.(asked by the teacher)

c. adjective : the promised reward

long – forgotten memories

Having the function of adjective , the past participle has also comparison degrees :

decided – more decided – the most decided

shaken – more shaken - the most shaken

There are , however , a few grammars which insist on the adjectival character and function of past participles. The explanation of such a view is partly the diachronical (historical) approach to the problem (written in “I have a written letter “ was an adjective ) , partly because the definition they give to past participles , while pointing out both their verbal and adjectival character , transfers this double quality to their function – which is an altogether different thing.

Context is the decisive element ; and context shows – in contrast , for example , with gerunds , which have a double function (nominal and verbal) in one and the same sentence – that a past participle form is either a past participle or an adjective. It cannot be both at the same time. Thus :

written is a past participle in “John has written his essay” and an adjective in “Shall we also have a written examination?”

Travelled is a past participle in : “By 6 o’clock we shall have travelled more than the distance “ and an adjective in “He is a travelled man.”

Here are some proofs speaking in favour of considering written in written examination , adjectives and not past participles.

1. An adjective homonymous with a past participle denotes either a quality or a state , answering questions characteristic of adjectives of the qualitative type : “What kind of?”, ‘Which?”, “What is it like?”. Thus : a written examination – what kind of examination?

a travelled man - what kind of man?

2. Many adjectives homonymic with past participles may be replaced by synonyms represented by words that are obvious adjectives.

an unloaded ship – an empty ship

a changed attitude – a different attitude

3. Many adjectives homonymous with past participles have antonyms represented by words that are undeniable adjectives :

a written examination – an oral examination

a disabled man – a healthy man

4. The objection that most adjectives homonymic with past participles cannot have degrees of comparison (written , spent , doubled , broken) is overruled by the fact that not all the words that are adjectives have degrees of comparison (inferior, principal, singing, wooden)

5. The objection that most adjectives homonymic with past participles cannot be used predicatively and , therefore , are not adjectives but past participles is overruled

- by the fact that not all adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively (alone, singing , ready , asleep ,all).

- by the fact that , when used predicatively with the verb the verb to

be in the present indicative (am , are , is) , past participle forms are

not always past participles.

a) More often than not , the passive voice (a form of to be + a past participle) is not used in the indefinite present tense (am , are , is) plus a past participle. In current English we do not say :

The exercises are written by Nick ; or

The painting is finished by John.

We say instead :

The exercises have been written by Nick ;

The painting has been finished by John.

b) Whenever the passive is used with the present indefinite of to be we can be sure that some new grammatical or stylistical element has come in.

Thus :

In the examples , the passive is formed by means of to be and a passive participle ; whenever the children are asked , they answer correctly, the statements express either some general truth or some repeated action.

In the examples :

These plays are written by Shakespeare ;

These poems are written by Shelley ,

the present is , in fact , used instead of present perfect :

These plays have been written by Shakespeare.

These plays have been written by Shelley.

In the examples :

He is supposed to come earlier

Are we expected to learn these lines?

He is told to be more attentive.

Is supposed , are expected are used within the framework of the nominative with the infinitive construction

In the examples :

It is said that they will sing tonight.

It is known that they are good pupils.

Is said , is known are conditioned by the introductory anticipatory it

In the examples :

A house is seen in the distance.

A song is heard.

Is seen , is heard are passive forms but their use is restricted to stage-directions , to stylistical devices.

6. The objection that adjectives homonymous with past participles have a verbal character (not function) and therefore are participles and not adjectives is overruled by the fact that quite a number of words that are obvious adjectives have a verbal character irrespective of form: talkative , attractive , surprising

7. To say that an adjective is “a past participle used as an adjective” is to attach overdue importance to diachronic analysis within contextual conditions ; we do not say that hard in the sense of “din rasputeri”, “din greu” is an adjective used as an adverb we call it an adverb ; that but in the sense of “cu exceptia” ; “in afara de” is a conjunction used as a preposition – we call it a preposition ; that silk in the sense of “de matase” is a noun used as an adjective – we call it an adjective.

Syntactic Functions of the Past Participle

The past participle discharges the following syntactical functions :

1. Predicative or part of a predicative

In spite of himself , he was impressed by what he saw.

(El a fost impresionat de ceea ce a vazut)

2. Part of an attribute

The guests went into the next room , beautifully decorated

with paintings.

(Musafirii au intrat in camera alaturata , frumos decorata cu

tablouri)

3. Adverbial modifier or part of an adverbial modifier(of time , condition , comparison , concession) with such conjunctions as : when if, as , though

When asked about it he refused to speak.

(Cand a fost intrebat de acest lucru , a refuzat sa vorbeasca)

Though unmasked she did not want to recognize the facts.

(Desi fusese revelat adevarul , n-a vrut sa recunoasca)

4. Part of a participial construction

The stamp has come unstuck.

(Timbrul nu s-a lipit)

His mission fulfilled , he returned.

(Misiunea fiind indeplinita , s-a intors)