What is the difference between a participle and adjective?

1 Answer
Jul 29, 2016

A participle is a word formed from a verb that can also be used as an adjective, while an adjective is a word that is related to a noun in order to modify or describe it.

Explanation:

A participle can take two different forms: past participle and present participle. These two forms can also be called verbals because they're verb forms that can also function as either an adjective or a noun.

A past participle usually has one of these various endings: -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n. For example, "broken clock" and "scared child" are examples of past participles. They can also be used to form verb tenses, like the perfect tense ("I had sold") and the perfect progressive tense ("I have been selling"). They can be used with the past, present, and future tenses.

A present participle, on the other hand, ends in -ing. For example, "caring mother" and "pouring rain". Like past participles, they can also be used to form verb tenses, like the progressive tense ("I was going") and the perfect progressive tense ("I will have been going"). Like past participles, they can be used with the past, present, and future tenses.

An adjective, on the other hand, is a word that describes a noun. It isn't derived from a verb and is, instead, its own word. Like participles, they usually follow the noun it describes. However, a special thing that an adjective can do is that it can take multiple forms.

While participles are a verb with a certain ending, adjectives can describes anything in a variety of ways. For example "my", "our", and "hers" are all possessive adjectives used to show who, or what, has something. "Which" and "whose" are examples of interrogative adjectives that help ask questions. "This", "those", and "that" are all demonstrative adjectives that indicate specific things.