What are
Participles?
Participles are the form verbs assume when they are used in
complex tense-aspect combinations such as John has worked or as
adjectives modifying a noun, e. g. a working woman, the bent
stick. Adverbal participles have the strictly adverbial function of
modifying verbs: Walking home, I fell and sprained my ankle.
As in this example, the adverbal participial usually tells 'when' the
action of the main verb takes place, while the adjectival participle helps
us identify the noun that it modifies
While English possesses only two participles, the present (
I am working) and the past (I have worked), the
Russian language possesses four adjectival participles and two adverbal
ones. The English adverbal and adjectival participles are formally the
same; the Russian correlates are not.
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