participle
noun
Did you know?
Grammar and Participle
English verbs can take several basic forms, which we call their principal parts: the infinitive (move, speak, etc.), the past tense (moved, spoke), the past participle (moved, spoken), and the present participle (moving, speaking). The participles are words that "take part" in two different word classes: that is, they are verb forms that can also act like adjectives ("the spoken word," "a moving experience"). A grammatical error called a dangling participle occurs when a clause begins with a participle that doesn't modify the subject; in the sentence "Climbing the mountain, the cabin came in view," for example, climbing is a dangling participle since it doesn't modify cabin. When we revise the sentence to "Climbing the mountain, the hikers spied a cabin," the participle climbing modifies the subject hikers and is therefore no longer dangling.
Examples of participle in a Sentence
Andy Crump, Men's Health, 21 Apr. 2023
And undangle your participle, etceterer.
—Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Dec. 2021
Some scholars believe violence and vehemence may share a common Latin origin, a lost participle of the verb vehere, to carry.
—Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 31 Mar. 2016
Vin Scully was baseball’s Sinatra, a man who sang the song of the game with great timing and phrasing, without blowing a lyric, or dangling a participle.
—Nick Canepacolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Aug. 2022
To compound matters, Ball’s prose is relentlessly truncated: short declarative sentences that leave the reader longing for a subordinate clause, a compound sentence, or even a dangling participle.
—David Holahan, USA TODAY, 2 Aug. 2020
One explanation is that, like the dangling participle, the split infinitive has a catchy name, making the rule easy to pass on.
—The Economist, 26 Apr. 2018
Got that?** A common hyphenated compound follows the pattern adjective-noun noun or adjective-participle noun.
—John E. McIntyre, baltimoresun.com, 27 Aug. 2017
The word traces back to the Middle English and Old French for ‘‘exit,’’ and before that to the feminine past participle (issir) of the Latin exire, meaning to ‘‘go out’’ or ‘
—Carina Chocano, New York Times, 18 July 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'participle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near participle
Cite this Entry
“Participle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/participle. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
participle
noun
Share