GMAT Grammar Biweekly – Participles: Everything You Never Wanted to Know
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Participles. Just the word is enough to inspire dread in the heart of most GMAT Test Takers. Let’s break down what they are and why you should care.
A participle is, by definition, a form of a verb that is not, by itself, acting like a verb. Think of it this way: It looks like a verb. It sounds like a verb. But it’s not a verb.
Don’t stop reading, it starts making sense very very soon! Let’s look at an example:
The beating heart sounds very loud with a stethoscope.
The sentence core is: “The heart sounds loud.” Subject – heart, verb – sounds. Participle – beating.
“Beating,” a present participle, is acting like (and in fact is) an adjective in this sentence. It is describing the heart. It’s not just any old heart. It’s a beating heart!
But beating can also be used as a verb:
The boy is beating the drum wildly.
Does that mean it’s sometimes a participle and sometimes not? No! Did you catch the subtle change I made in the drum sentence to turn beating into a verb? I added the helping verb “is.” Try the sentence without it:
The boy beating the drum wildly.
Your reaction, hopefully, was “the boy beating the drum did what?” And that’s the perfect reaction! Without the “is,” the present participle is acting like a modifier. It describes the boy, but isn’t the action associated with him. The sentence has no verb, so is therefore a fragment.
We now have two things participles do: they describe nouns and they form compound verbs when combined with a helping verb. This difference is important because if you confuse a modifier with a verb on the GMAT, you’re likely to end up with a sentence fragment.
There’s one more way participles can be used: as nouns.
Running is exhausting and invigorating.
“Exhausting” and “invigorating” have the helping verb “is,” so they are both participles that are part of the compound verb. The subject is “running.” In this case, “running” is a noun.
To recap: participles are verb forms that can be used as noun, modifiers, and compound verbs. To figure out which role a participle is playing, find the core of the sentence. Try to spot the participle in this sentence:
The beach located on the far side of the state is known for its beauty.
Again, to do so, you need the sentence core: The beach is known. “Located” is a past participle in this sentence, and we can test that because it just doesn’t make sense as the verb:
The beach located.*
If this were the subject-verb, we’d be saying the beach went out and found something. That doesn’t make sense, so located must not be the verb, but rather a participle.
If you spotted that, excellent!
Past participles, like located, are a little trickier than present ones. Check out this list to see if you can see why:
| Infinitive | Simple Present | Simple Past | Present Participle | Past Participle |
| to bring | bring(s) | brought | bringing | brought |
| to locate | locate(s) | located | locating | located |
| to jump | jump(s) | jumped | jumping | jumped |
| to begin | begin(s) | began | beginning | begun |
Present participles always end in “-ing” and are never verbs without a helping verb. Past participles are often identical to the past tense form of the verb. In fact, we can use the same past participle we just discussed as a verb if we modify the subject of the sentence:
The scientists located a gene.
We have a full, completely normal sentence. In this case, located is being used as a verb, not a participle. What does this mean for you? It means that you can’t just list all the participles, you have to think about their meaning in the sentence. Try to spot the participles and the verbs in each of the following sentences:
- Jumping as high as she could, Rosa thought she could touch the stars.
- The theory of gravity, thought to be nonsense for years, has earned nearly universal acceptance.
- The investment earned double its expected dividends, so Ralph decided to take an overdue vacation.
- Deciding where to live is one of the most important choices in a young adult’s life.
We’ll start by isolating the core of the sentence and identifying which of the verb forms are actually verbs.
- Jumping as high as she could, Rosa thought she could touch the stars. Verb: Thought
- The theory of gravity, thought to be nonsense for years, has earned nearly universal acceptance. Verb: has earned
- The investment earned double its expected dividends, so Ralph decided to take an overdue vacation.** Verb: earned, decided
- Deciding where to live is one of the most important choices in a young adult’s life. Verb: is
With the core of each isolated, we can categorize all of the participles in the sentences. The first three sentences use participles to modify part of the sentence core (jumping, thought, and expected). The second sentence also using a participle as part of its compound verb (earned). Finally, the fourth sentence is using the participle as a noun (deciding).
These sentences show how crazy participles can get, but also how important it is to isolate the core and verify that the meaning of the sentence makes sense. If you want more practice with participles visit the modifier section of our Sentence Correction Strategy Guide, or Foundations of Verbal.
*Again, you could turn it into a verb: The beach is located…
**With this core, I left in “so Ralph decided” because the sentence is composed of two independent clauses. To make sure both worked correctly, we want to keep both in the core. ?
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Emily Madan is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia. Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential. In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. Check out Emily’s upcoming GMAT courses here. Your first class is always free!