Question

"Everyday Verbals" What role do both present and past participles serve in a sentence?

Answer 1

Participles can function as adjectives when they end in -ing or -ed.

A participle that is ending in "ing" (present participle) is used for describing an object. Example: an interesting book. (Present participle: interesting).

When the participle functions as an adjectibe and ends in "ed" (past participle), it is used for talking about people. Example: The kid is bored. He is interested in video games. (Past participles: bored - interested).

Answer 2

The correct answer is the role of adjective. Both non-finite verbs can perform the role of adjective in a sentence. The following examples show this role:

Present participle as adjective, which can be recognized from its "-ing" ending:

Look at the reading boy.

Past participle as adjective, which are formed by adding "-ed" to the verb:

Look at the washed car.