participle

Definition: A verb that is being used as an adjective.
Note: English has two types:
(1) present participles: these end with ing
(2) past participles: these usually end with ed, en, and t
Example:
(1) The barking dogs angered the cats
(the present participle barking modifies dogs)
(2) Satisfied, Gary smoked a cigarette.
(the past participle satisfied modifies Gary)
Etymology: The term derives from the Latin participium, a sharing or partaking.
Note: The Latin word was coined to translate the Greek metokhe, sharer or partaker; the idea being that this type of word shares the nature of both a noun and an adjective.
Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1388:
"A participle of a present tens, either preterit, of actif vois, eithir passif,
mai be resoluid into a verbe of the same tens, and a coniunccioun copulatif."
(Wyclif Prol. 57)



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