Note that a lot of English words can function as different parts of speech. For example, many words can function as both nouns and verbs: run, salute, coach, damage, talk....Many nouns can also function as adjectives: school bus, mountain bike, movie studio, finger painting...
The trickiest words are words that function as adjectives or nouns but look like verbs. Look at the following sentences. What part of speech are the italicised words?
- A sea eagle is circling above the fishing trawler.
- The sea eagle has circled above the trawler for a long time.
- Sea eagles are able to spot fish in the ocean from a great height.
The italicised words look as if they are part of the verb but also look like adjectives. Because they are part verb and part adjective, they are called 'participles'. Indeed, they are often used as adjectives, as in 'a circling helicopter', 'the circled word', 'an able sportsman'. Participles are also often used to introduce phrases, such as ‘The drone circling above the waves is looking for sharks.’ We call that a participial phrase (because it is introduced by a participle).
Sometimes -ing words are used as nouns! When used like this, they are called verbal nouns (or gerunds). Here are a couple of examples:
- Swimming is very good exercise.
- His favourite pastime is photographing nature.
- Complaining will not solve the problem.
What part of speech then are participles? Nowadays they are often classified under verbs. However, it is interesting to note (and not surprising) that early Latin grammars classified participles as a separate part of speech. The main thing is to understand how they can function in different ways: they can be verbs, adjectives or even nouns! Because of that, in English Toolkit we are treating participles as a separate and very tricky part of speech!