Participle is a verb form used as an adjective without losing its character as a verb. Like a verb, a participle may have an object or an adverbial modifier.
A word can often be identified as a participle only because it takes an object. In the sentence The shouting mob, hurling stones, moved forward, the word shouting is an adjective that modifies mob. The word hurling also modifies mob, but it is a participle because it has an object, stones.
A verb has two participles in the active voice. The present participle–for example, drawing–expresses action in progress. The past participle, drawn, expresses finished action. The perfect participle, having drawn, is a modified form. The participle forms in the passive voice are being drawn for the present tense, drawn for the past tense, and having been drawn for the perfect tense.
A present participle used as a noun is called a gerund. Gerunds, even though they function as nouns, keep the characteristics of a verb. In the sentence Talking nonsense is sometimes fun, the word Talking is the subject of is, but nonsense is the object of the gerund. In By talking good sense, he won respect, the word talking is the object of a preposition.
