The past participle.

Participle II, like participle I, denotes processual quality and can be characterized as a phenomenon of hybrid processual-qualifying nature. It has only one form, traditionally treated in practical grammar as the verbal “third form”, used to build the analytical forms of the passive and the perfect of finites, e.g.: is taken; has taken. The categorial meanings of the perfect and the passive are implicitly conveyed by participle II in its free use, for example, when it functions as a predicative or an attribute, e.g.: He answered through a firmly locked door (participle II as an attribute); The room was big and brightly lit (participle II as a predicative). The functioning of participle II is often seen as adverbial in cases like the following: When asked directly about the purpose of her visit she answered vaguely. But such constructions present cases of syntactic compression rather than an independent participle II used adverbially, cf.: When asked directly ß When she was asked directly… Thus, participle II can be characterized as a verbid combining verbal features (processual semantics and combinability) with the features of the adjective.

Like any other verbid, participle II can form semi-predicative constructions if combined with the inner subject of its own; they include complex object with participle II, e.g.: I’d like to have my hair cut; We found the door locked; complex subject with participle II (the passive transformation of the complex object constructions), e.g.: The door was found firmly locked; and absolute participial construction with participle II, e.g.: She approached us, head half turned; He couldn’t walk far with his leg broken.

Similar to the present participle, the past participle can be used in postposition or in preposition to the noun: the broken cup vs. the cup broken. But as compared to the present participle, the past participle occurs in preposition to the noun more frequently, which is especially true of past participles derived from bounded perfective verbs, e.g.

1. The police used hidden television cameras.

2. The teenager was shot and killed while driving a hijacked car.

3. He loved to feel the covers of newly printed books.

Constructions with the Participle.

There are four such constructions:

1) The objective – participle construction;

2) The subjective – participle construction;

3) The subjective – absolute participle construction;

4) The absolute participle construction.

1. The first construction is similar to the corresponding objective-infinitive construction. Cf. I saw John running away. vs. I saw John run away. The first construction represents the situation in progress and the second as completed. The second construction is similar to the corresponding subjective-infinitive construction. Cf. John was seen running away. vs. John was seen to run away. As with the first two constructions, the subjective-participle construction views the process in progress while the subjective-infinitive construction views the process as completed.

2. The subjective-absolute participle construction, traditionally called “the nominative absolute participial construction”, consists of a common-case noun or a pronoun in the nominative form and a participle, e.g. The elevator being out of order, everyone had to walk. Personal pronoun “subjects” of such a construction are more likely to occur in conversational English than in formal English (Marcella Frank, op. cit., 358), e.g. He being sick, we’ll have to do his work. If a personal pronoun is preceded by the preposition with, the pronoun is in objective form, e.g. With him being sick, we’ll have to do his work. The nominal position can be taken by the expletives (i.e. prop-words) it and there, e.g. It being Sunday, the stores were not open.There having been some question about the bookkeeper’s honesty, the company asked him to resign.

The participle can be elided in such constructions e.g. His book [being] now a best-seller, he felt pleased with the world.

3. The subjective-absolute participial construction functions in the sentence as an adverbial of time (e.g. Dinner [being] ready, the hostess asked her guests to be seated), cause (e.g. The children having been fed, their mother put them to bed), condition (e.g. A riot once begun, our small police force will be unable to handle it), manner (e.g. She sat in a corner, her hands over her eyes).

4. The absolute participle construction is a construction in which the participle is not connected with the sentence, just as the participle in the subjective absolute construction. Cf. Generally speaking, I don’t like cats. vs. Her mother being away, she has to do all the housework. The absolute participle construction should not be confused with the adverbial participle construction, e.g. Not knowing anyone in town, he felt very lonesome, where not knowing anyone in town is not absolute (i.e. independent of the sentence): the “subject” of the construction is the same as the subject of the sentence. The learner should use such constructions with care if he is to avoid the so-called ‘dangling’ participle, a participle which does not depend on any other individual element of the sentence, e.g. *Walking back, it snowed.