You could distinguish them by saying, “Look at the eating otter” or “Look at the swimming otter.” In these examples, the verbs eat and swim are not acting as verbs they’re acting as adjectives because they modify the noun otter. One otter is eating, and another is swimming.
Here’s an example of participles used as adjectives: Let’s say you’re at a zoo looking at otters. Turn the verb into an adjective to modify nouns.Ĭonnect with auxiliary verbs to create different tenses, such as the present perfect tense.
Participles are a particular form of verb that has two main purposes: Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What is a participle?