{"id":11083,"date":"2016-03-03T17:30:52","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T17:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=11083"},"modified":"2019-09-05T16:00:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T16:00:08","slug":"gmat-grammar-biweekly-participles-everything-you-never-wanted-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/gmat-grammar-biweekly-participles-everything-you-never-wanted-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar Biweekly – Participles: Everything You Never Wanted to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GMATDid you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Participles. Just the word is enough to inspire dread in the heart of most GMAT Test Takers. Let\u2019s break down what they are and why you should care.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s not a verb.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stop reading, it starts making sense very very soon! Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n

The beating heart sounds very loud with a stethoscope.<\/p>\n

The sentence core is: \u201cThe heart sounds loud.\u201d Subject \u2013 heart, verb \u2013 sounds. Participle \u2013 beating.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeating,\u201d a present participle, is acting like (and in fact is) an adjective in this sentence. It is describing the heart. It\u2019s not just any old heart. It\u2019s a beating heart!<\/p>\n

But beating can also be used as a verb:<\/p>\n

The boy is beating the drum wildly.<\/p>\n

Does that mean it\u2019s 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 \u201cis.\u201d Try the sentence without it:<\/p>\n

The boy beating the drum wildly.<\/p>\n

Your reaction, hopefully, was \u201cthe boy beating the drum did what?\u201d And that\u2019s the perfect reaction! Without the \u201cis,\u201d the present participle is acting like a modifier. It describes the boy, but isn\u2019t the action associated with him. The sentence has no verb, so is therefore a fragment.<\/p>\n

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\u2019re likely to end up with a sentence fragment.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one more way participles can be used: as nouns.<\/p>\n

Running is exhausting and invigorating.<\/p>\n

\u201cExhausting\u201d and \u201cinvigorating\u201d have the helping verb \u201cis,\u201d so they are both participles that are part of the compound verb. The subject is \u201crunning.\u201d In this case, \u201crunning” is a noun.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

The beach located on the far side of the state is known for its beauty.<\/p>\n

Again, to do so, you need the sentence core: The beach is known. \u201cLocated\u201d is a past participle in this sentence, and we can test that because it just doesn\u2019t make sense as the verb:<\/p>\n

The beach located.*<\/p>\n

If this were the subject-verb, we\u2019d be saying the beach went out and found something. That doesn\u2019t make sense, so located must not be the verb, but rather a participle.<\/p>\n

If you spotted that, excellent!<\/p>\n

Past participles, like located, are a little trickier than present ones. Check out this list to see if you can see why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Infinitive<\/td>\nSimple Present<\/td>\nSimple Past<\/td>\nPresent Participle<\/td>\nPast Participle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
to bring<\/td>\nbring(s)<\/td>\nbrought<\/td>\nbringing<\/td>\nbrought<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
to locate<\/td>\nlocate(s)<\/td>\nlocated<\/td>\nlocating<\/td>\nlocated<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
to jump<\/td>\njump(s)<\/td>\njumped<\/td>\njumping<\/td>\njumped<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
to begin<\/td>\nbegin(s)<\/td>\nbegan<\/td>\nbeginning<\/td>\nbegun<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Present participles always end in \u201c-ing\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

The scientists located a gene.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jumping as high as she could, Rosa thought she could touch the stars.<\/li>\n
  2. The theory of gravity, thought to be nonsense for years, has earned nearly universal acceptance.<\/li>\n
  3. The investment earned double its expected dividends, so Ralph decided to take an overdue vacation.<\/li>\n
  4. Deciding where to live is one of the most important choices in a young adult\u2019s life.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We\u2019ll start by isolating the core of the sentence and identifying which of the verb forms are actually \u00a0verbs.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Jumping as high as she could, <\/span>Rosa thought she could touch the stars. <\/span>Verb: Thought<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. The theory of gravity, thought to be nonsense for years,<\/span> has earned nearly universal <\/span>acceptance. Verb: has earned<\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. The investment earned double its expected dividends<\/span>, so Ralph decided to take an overdue<\/span> vacation.** Verb: earned, decided<\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Deciding where to live<\/span> is one of the most important choices in a young adult\u2019s life<\/span>. Verb: is<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      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).<\/p>\n

      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<\/a>, or Foundations of Verbal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      *Again, you could turn it into a verb: The beach is located\u2026<\/p>\n

      **With this core, I left in \u201cso Ralph decided\u201d because the sentence is composed of two independent clauses. To make sure both worked correctly, we want to keep both in the core.\u00a0?<\/p>\n

      \n

      Of course, the most in-depth way to learn the ins-and-outs of the GMAT is to take a complete course<\/a> with one of\u00a0our master instructors. You can try out any first session for free! No strings attached. We promise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n

      \"Emily<\/a>Emily Madan<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/strong>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential.\u00a0In 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\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>. Your first class is always free!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Participles. Just the word is enough to inspire dread in the heart of most GMAT Test Takers. Let\u2019s break down what they are and why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,929,26,10],"tags":[52770,267,341,52769,52771],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-foundations-of-verbal","tag-gmat-grammar","tag-gmat-sentence-correction","tag-participles","tag-sentence-correction-strategy-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11089,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11083\/revisions\/11089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11083"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}