Mr.Maru: Did you enjoy the movie?

Sparky: Not really. I got really boring.

Mr.Maru: mmm, you usually are. Anyway, let's do something more exciting then.

Sparky: Yeah, let's go bowling. It's excited!

Mr.Maru: Mmm, yeah. We'll do that. Do you want to go now?

Sparky: Well, I'm a bit tiring. Let's take a break at a cafe first.

Mr.Maru: Sounds good. I'm tired too.

(NOTE: Sparky is using incorrect English.)

How do you use past and present participles? These are also sometimes called active present participles and passive past participles. They can be incredibly useful when you want to describe something. Let's talk about some examples and rules.

Active Present Participles

Active present participles end in ~ing. They are used as adjectives or adverbs. They describe an object that is doing the action. For example,

I saw a dancing bear at the zoo. (The bear was dancing and it was at the zoo.)
There was a laughing Santa Claus at the mall. (Santa Claus was laughing and he was at the mall.)

We can use the active present participles to describe something that is the cause of a feeling too. You can think of it as the source of the feeling as well. For example,

The new Brad Peach movie is exciting. (The movie is a source or cause of excitement.)
There was some depressing news in the paper today. (The news in the paper was the source or cause of depression.)

Passive Past Participles

Passive past participles end in ~ed. They can also be used as adjectives or adverbs. They describe an object that somebody or something did something to. In other words, it is the receiver of the action. For example,

There is a half-eaten pizza in the refrigerator. (Somebody ate half the pizza. Now it is a half-eaten pizza.)
There is only a broken computer in there. (Something broke the computer. The computer is in there.)

We can also use passive past participles to describe one's feelings. For example,

Jenny was really excited about the new Brad Peach movie. (She felt excitement because of the new Brad Peach movie.)
George seems a little depressed. (George feels depression.)

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.

1) Your kids were ________ in the play!

A) amazing

B) amazed

C) amaze

2) For Christmas Day, we got to see _______ snow. It didn't stay on the ground, but it was still pretty.

A) fallen

B) falling

C) fell

3) The pirates went to look for ______ treasure.

A) sunken

B) sinking

C) sunk

Answers

1) – A) – The kids were in a play, so they were performing. The performance they did made the speaker amazed.

2) – B) – The snow didn't stay on the ground. They are talking about the snow that was in the air. It was still falling to the ground.

3) – A) – The treasure sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Now it is sunken treasure.

Thanks everyone for stopping by, I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I won't be able to post every week from now on because I'll be busy in 2011. I'll try to post as often as I can. If you have questions about grammar, please let me know by emailing me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Thanks everyone, and have a happy new year!