Questions tagged [past-participles]

Questions about past participle forms of verbs.

The past participle is one of the main inflected forms of the English verb. It has several uses, which include forming constructions in the passive voice and in the perfect aspect or anterior tenses (such as the pluperfect or past perfect).

In many cases, it is identical to the simple past form (including for all regular verbs, which use the suffix -ed to form the past participle and the simple past). But there are also many commonly used irregular verbs where these two forms are distinct, such as to go, for which the past tense is went and the past participle is gone.

See also


342 questions
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What's the difference in meaning between "I never would have thought..." and "I never have thought..."?

With the sentence,'I never would have thought that he would behave like that', does the meaning change if I omit 'would'?
czh
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Past participle form of "break-even"

Break even is commonly used in economics to refer to the point where cost and revenue are equal. However, instead of using the long way of saying that Firm X had reached the point of break even is it possible to say Firm X had broken even? I…
hrishioa
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"camping" vs. "camped" under a bridge

If you were to describe a group of poor illegal immigrants who live in tents under a bridge, would you say that they are "camping" under a bridge, or that they are "camped" under a bridge? If I write "Homeless man camping under a bridge" (e.g. in a…
Alex
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Correct usage of past participle?

I'm not a native English speaker, and yesterday I entered a [short] debate with a French guy (again, not native English speaker) who insisted that "the task was scheduled" is not valid from a grammatical point-of-view, and "the task has been…
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A paper describes a past participle as “pure”, does anyone know the meaning?

I read in a paper that the word loved is a “pure” past participle: “*He was very loved. (Because loved is a past participle, very cannot be used to modify a pure past participle. Very much should be used.) Cf. He was very much loved (by her).” Can…
Piermo
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Is 'had' in 'They had to be happy' used as a verb or adjective?

Is 'had' in 'They had to be happy' used as a verb or adjective? I think that "to be" is a linking verb, and 'happy' its subject complement. But can had - meaning found it necessary - be the past participle?
user438381
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"I've eaten, shaved and showered"?

Which one is better? I've eaten, shaved and showered. I've eaten, shaven and showered. The first one sounds more correct to me, but shouldn't we use the past participle shaven for the same reason that we use the past participle eaten? Why would…
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Past participle (mis)usage?

In this post: Let’s be frank: If Trump had Russian business deals and was lying, he, just like former national security adviser Michael Flynn, would be compromised; the Russians would know what he is saying is not true and they would…
John M.
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Can "handmade" be used as a past participle?

Can "handmade" be used as a past participle? I'm looking at this sentence: "… all of our organic products are handmade locally." Is it OK to use handmade this way? I think of handmade as an adjective only, but since it includes "made," maybe this…
debbiesym
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"The angriest Obama became with Clinton concerned"

I read the following sentence from the NYT, and am not sure how this structure works, grammatically or idiomatically: The angriest Obama became with Clinton, Landler says, concerned the Arab Spring and the uprising in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. I…
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"Who having" vs "who has"—which construction is it?

This sentence is from George Eliot: Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. I would like to know why did she use "having" instead of "has"? Is it correct to say: However, today there are…
haji
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VP-deletion in a sentence

What part of a verb phrase is omitted in the following sentence? Nearly a million people lived there, making do, as they always had [VP deletion], with candles, torches and lanterns. At first, I thought the verb phrase omitted after "had" would…
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"All opened files" or "all open files"?

I am not sure when I am supposed to use "open" vs "opened". Isn't "opened" the past participle form? Therefore should I talk about "the opened file"? I feel "the open file" sounds more right...
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The sentence sounds incorrect but comes from respectable book, please review and advise

Current social standards and a sense of morality in our culture have led to the rejection of prostitution. It has been cast it aside as a deviant behaviour by the prostitute and the client. —The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms, 1st…
revelt
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Are there two verbs with the same past participle?

I'm interested in finding two verbs with the same past participle but different infinitives. Mock example: to feed -> fed to fead -> fed
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