§ 173. Although the participle has the same lexical meaning as the corresponding verb, it differs considerably from the finite forms as well as from the infinitive and the ing-form.

As the participle has only one form (see "Verbs", § 5 and Ap- pendix), it does not possess any of the grammatical categories of the infinitive and the ing-form. Nevertheless, this form has its own grammatical meaning.

The grammatical meaning of the participle is closely connected with the lexical character of the verb.

The participle is, in the main, formed from transitive verbs and has passive meaning.

e.g. He had suits, and coats, and shirts made to order.

It was a question put down by one of the correspondents.

When the participle is formed from transitive terminative verbs, it denotes a state resulting from a previously accomplished action. This resultant state is simultaneous with the action ex- pressed by the predicate verb.

e.g. On arriving at the small building on the top of the mountain,

she found it locked. Alfred, left alone, stood motionless for some minutes.

A participle formed from a transitive durative verb denotes an action; it is simultaneous with the action expressed by the predi- cate verb.

e.g. Tom was the happy husband, adoring and adored,

At last the Colonel, accompanied by his two daughters, made his appearance in the park.

The number of participles formed from intransitive verbs is very limited. They have active meaning and usually denote an ac- tion preceding that of the predicate verb.

e-g. She sat down on a fallen tree to have a short rest.

The house was made of unpainted plank, gone grey now.

Sometimes the participle is formed from an intransitive mean- ing of a polysemantic verb.

e.g.. His face was like a withered apple. She looked at the faded photograph.

§ 174. Like the finite forms and the other two verbals, the participle is always associated with a subject. But the means of expressing its subject are more limited than those of expressing the subject of the infinitive and the ing form.

The subject of the participle may be the person or thing denot- ed by the subject (a) or the object (b) of the sentence. It may also be expressed by the noun the participle modifies (c).

e.g. a) Suddenly touched, she came over to the side of her fa- ther's chair and kissed him.

2. He heard his name called.

3. A large fat man with a face shaved as smooth as marble

stood in the doorway.

As the participle is, as a rule, formed from transitive verbs and has passive meaning, it mostly has a passive subject. But its active subject, the doer of the action, may also be indicated in the sentence with the help of a by-phrase.

e.g. I looked at the ceiling, painted by some 18th century artist

now forgotten.

§ 175. The participle can be used only as a notional verb (see the examples above and below); it never serves as a structural word. In this respect it also differs from the finite forms and the two other verbals.

But, like the infinitive and the ing-form, the participle is widely used as second (or third) component of analytical forms (e.g. The letter is written. He has done it. The matter has been investigated.)

§ 176. The syntactic functions of the participle in the sentence are more restricted than those of the other two verbals. It mainly performs the functions of the adjective.

e.g. One day he landed in Santa Domingo in torn and dusty clothes. He stood amazed at the door of the shop.

§ 177. The participle, like the other two verbals, is, in some of its functions, lexically and structurally dependent. For example its use is required by the verb to have in the following pattern.

e.g. You'll never guess where I had the suit made.

The functions of the participle will be dealt with in detail below.

§ 178. The participle, like the finite forms and the two other verbals, can be modified by secondary parts of the sentence. But the number of those modifiers is restricted and the participle phrase is never very extended. The secondary parts that modify the participle usually denote the place (a), or the time (b), or the doer of the action (c). They always follow the participle.

e.g. a) I had my suitcase put in the corner of a third-class carriage. b) She told me of the parcel delivered in the morning.

c) They let him know of the decision taken by the committee. The negative not is always placed before the participle. e.g. Margaret, not convinced, was still arguing about it.

If the verb requires a prepositional object, the preposition is retained by the participle when the object happens to be separated from it.

e.g. He never uttered a word unless spoken to.

The blood in his cut seemed very dark. "You ought to have it looked at," I said.

§179. The participle often becomes adjectivized. (Adjectiviza- tion is even more typical of the participle than of the ing-form.) It becomes devoid of the idea of action and sometimes its lexical meaning is changed as compared with the meaning of the corre- sponding verb (see the second and third examples below)-

e.g. On the surface my life was varied and exciting; but beneath it was narrow.

He was an elegant gentleman though given to talking in a gruff voice (= склонный, имеющий обыкновение).

The streets, deserted now, looked frightening (= пустые, без- людные).

The adjectivized participle may be preceded, like a real adjec- tive, by adverbs of degree.

e.g. Is Mrs White really very excited?

Suddenly, looking rather alarmed, she rushed out of the room. The road was as deserted as ever.

Note 1. Some participles are used only as adjectives in present-day English, e.g. tired, interested, accustomed and others.

Note 2. There are a number of adjectives ending in -ed which are homonymous to participles. They are actually adjectives formed from nouns, e.g. stockinged legs, propertied classes, a bearded face, a gifted person, a talented musician, etc.

Adjectives built up on this pattern mean 'having stockings, having property, having a beard', etc.

§ 180. The use of all the three verbals is characterized by one more peculiarity: the frequency of their occurrence varies greatly in different functions. In some functions their use is extensive, in other functions it is infrequent. At the same time, some of their functions are found only in literary style.

In describing the various functions of the verbals, special mention will be made of their frequency of occurrence and stylis- tic restrictions.