
– have, from which has is inflected, is an auxiliary used in expressing the perfect aspect of give. Do you want tea? – do is an auxiliary accompanying the infinitive, want, used here to form a question – see do-support. 3.3 Diagnostics for identifying auxiliary verbs in Englishīelow are some sentences that contain representative auxiliary verbs from English, Spanish, German and French, with the auxiliary verb marked in bold:Ī.3.2 List of Auxiliaries Unique to African American Vernacular English.Now you’ve got a better idea of what the present participle is and when it’s used, try to practice it as often as possible. Walking down the street she met her old friend.Īrriving late she realized she’d missed the meeting.ĭriving to work he listened to the radio. This use of the present participle is quite formal and generally only found in written English.

The present participle can also be used when two things happened at the same time. Look, Hear, Sound, Feel, Taste, Watch, Smell etc) We also use the present participle after the sense verbs (See, The Present Participle after certain verbs

We use the present participle after some verbs of movement, most commonly ‘to go’. We can use these adjectives to describe nouns, which could be people, things or situations. Interesting (from the verb ‘to interest’) Many English verbs can become adjectives by using the present participle. Next week they’ll have been building these offices for two years. You’ll be lying in the sun this time next week. They’d been trying to repair the computer for ages when finally they found the problem. What are you doing? – I’m finishing this report. That can mean in the present, in the past, and in the future. We use continuous tenses to describe ongoing actions. Let’s look at each of these uses in more detail. The present participle is used in the following situations: With most short one-syllable verbs, like stop, put, sit, we double the final consonant. With verbs that end in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing. For example,Įating, sleeping and waiting are all present participles. To create it, we use the base form of the verb and add -ing. The present participle, also known as the gerund, is one of the forms of every English verb. Have you also heard people talk about the present participle and not been sure what they meant? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Read on to find out what the present participle is and when to use it.

As an English student, you’re probably familiar with the names of some verb tenses, such as the present continuous or the past simple.
