What is a Present Participle?

The present participle is the verb form you’ll find in sentences like “I am writing a letter” or “The crying baby needs attention.”

Recall: Verbs are action words e.g., run, play, eat. Most verbs have five forms.

1. Base form (infinitive): eat
2. Present form: eat / eats
3. Past form: ate
4. Present participle (-ing) form: eating
5. Past participle form: eaten

Today, we focus on that fourth form—the present participle or the -ing form, which can be used to form tenses and adjectives. First, let’s understand how the present participle is formed.

Forming the Present Participle

To form the present participle, add -ing to the base form:

• say ® saying
• gasp ® gasping

For verbs ending in “e”, remove the “e” and add “ing”:

• engage ® engaging
• dance ® dancing

For verbs ending in “ie”, remove the “ie” and add “ying”:

• lie ® lying
• tie ® tying

Certain verbs require you to double the final consonant before adding “ing”:

• stop ® stopping
• run ® running

Using the Present Participle

In this section, we explore how the present participle form is used in: (1) continuous tenses; (2) gerunds; (3) adjectives; (4) participle phrases

(1) Present Participle in Continuous Tenses

There are six continuous tenses, all of which require the present participle.

• present continuous
• present perfect continuous
• past continuous
• past perfect continuous
• future continuous
• future perfect continuous

We use the present continuous tense for: (a) actions taking place right now; (b) actions taking place in the future; or (c) actions that happen over and over again.

For example:

• The boys are playing Futsal now.
• I cannot believe I am leaving for vacation next week!
• My older sister is always reminding me to clean my bedroom.

We use the present perfect continuous tense for: actions that started in the past and are still continuing in the present.

For example:

• Adelia has been singing since noon.
• We have been camping here for a week. How time flies!
• Have you been watching the news lately?

We use the past continuous tense for: (a) an action that was in progress at a particular time in the past; or (b) an action that was in progress when another action occurred in the past.

For example:

• The kids were playing in the park all afternoon.
• I was singing at the top of my lungs when my mother came home.
• The power went out while I was eating

We use the past perfect continuous tense to show that an action was continuing for some time before another action in the past.

For example:

• I had been waiting for an hour when she finally arrived.
• Lena was laughing because Ryan had been cracking hilarious jokes.
• Ben had been evading the cops before he got arrested last night.

We use the future continuous tense to show that an action is ongoing at a point in the future.

For example:

• I will be going to Universal Studios tomorrow.
• Next week, Jasper will be participating in a Robotics workshop.

Will you be saying goodbye to everyone before you leave later?

We use the future perfect continuous tense to show that an action is continuing till (or perhaps even after) a point in the future.

For example

• By the time I retire, I will have been working here for forty years.
• By the time you arrive, I will have been cooking for several hours.
• When December comes, they will have been dating for a year.

Note: the future perfect continuous tense is not often used because it comes across as rather awkward or stilted!

(2) Gerunds

Now let’s turn our attention to gerunds i.e., verb forms ending in “-ing” which act as nouns.

For example:

• Swimming has played a big part in my weight loss journey.
• He is better at solving math problems than he is at spelling.
• “Give rollerblading a try!” my friend suggested.

• Teaching students requires patience >> Use the singular “requires” to agree with the gerund subject “teaching.
• Collecting stamps is my hobby >> Use the singular “is” to agree with the gerund subject “collecting”.

 (3) Adjectives

We may also use present participles as adjectives i.e., words that describe nouns. There are two ways we can do this.

Before a noun:

• That smiling child brightened my day.
• The sleeping cat lay in the sunlight next to her playing
• I stopped in my tracks when I noticed the flickering

After a verb:

As an adjective, the present participle can  come after verbs like be, seem, look, feel, sound.

For example:

• The journey ahead sounds tiring based on what the locals say.
• The party was exciting and the guests enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
• The video game looks promising; I cannot wait to play it!

 (3) Participle Phrases

Here, present participles function as modifiers to give additional information about the subject of the sentence, in much the same way adjectives do.

For example:

• Looking at the old photograph, he smiled wistfully.
• Ezra, being allergic to nuts, politely declined the pecan pie.
• I stood at the window, gazing at the street below.

Common Mistake: Dangling Modifier

Beware of the dangling modifier! This is when the subject of the modifying phrase doesn’t match the subject of the main clause of the sentence. Grammatically, the modifier is left “hanging” because it doesn’t have the correct subject to attach to.

Wrong:            Running late, breakfast had to be skipped.

Correct:           Running late, I had to skip breakfast.

Why incorrect? My breakfast isn’t running late; I am!

Wrong:            Packing my bag hurriedly, a zipper broke.  

Correct:           Packing my bag hurriedly, I broke a zipper.

Remember: place the subject of the participle clause immediate after the comma.

Quiz Time!

We’ve touched on the many roles that present participles play in English grammar. Ready to dive deeper and refine your English skills? Join us at Grade Solution, where we offer both Creative Writing and English courses. See you in class soon!