Present Participle in English and principles of its use

30 January 2026

English-learners

Oleksandra Kulish

Book expert

Present Participle and Participle Clauses are important constructions in English that allow you to create varied and expressive sentences. They help convey simultaneous actions or actions that occur before other events. Next, we will look at the features and rules for using the Present Participle.

What is the Present Participle in English?

An English participle is a form of a verb that shows an action in the present or past tense and combines the characteristics of a verb, adjective, and even an adverb. The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the base of the verb:

read → reading;
cook → cooking;
run → running.

It describes an active or unfinished action:

I saw a dog running across the street.

Do not confuse a participle with a gerund. A participle functions as an adjective and describes a noun, while a gerund is a verbal noun that can be a subject or an object:

I watched a girl painting a picture. (participle)
Painting is relaxing after work. (gerund)

The past participle is formed with the ending -ed in regular verbs or with the third form of the verb in irregular verbs: for example, stop → stopped, go → gone. Unlike the present participle, it describes a completed or passive action.

I cut myself on a shattered bottle.

The past participle is often confused with the passive voice. Let's compare the examples:

They interviewed a rescued cat. (Participle).
The cat was rescued by the volunteers. (Passive voice).

In a sentence, a participle can act as an independent modifier or as part of more complex constructions with dependent words — participle clauses. We will discuss these further below.

Participle Clauses

Participle clauses are constructions that contain present participles and sometimes past participles to add information about actions or states in a single sentence. They are usually used to briefly express sequential events or simultaneous actions.

In participle clauses, the present participle is used to indicate simultaneous actions:

Walking along the river, he spotted a family of ducks.

In this sentence, “walking along the river” shows that the action took place at the same time as “he spotted.”

Participle phrases can also express an action that precedes another action:

Having packed her bag, she left the house.

Here, “having packed her bag” occurs before “she left the house.”

In addition, such phrases can indicate the reason, condition, time, or manner of an action:

Feeling hungry, he made himself a sandwich.

Noticing the storm clouds, they decided to cancel the picnic.

The use of participles and participle phrases makes speech more varied and expressive, allowing you to convey different shades of meaning and create complex sentence structures. By integrating them into your own speech, you will be able to express your thoughts more accurately and effectively.

Common mistakes when using the present participle

The problem with the present participle when learning English is that its form looks simple — just add -ing — but behind this simplicity lie many pitfalls and mistakes. Let's figure out where students most often stumble and how to avoid these mistakes so that your sentences sound natural and beautiful.

1. Confusion with the gerund.

The present participle is similar to the gerund (the -ing form), but it has a different function.

Mistake: I like reading books while I am reading book.
Correct: I saw him reading a book. – Here, reading is a participle, and the action occurs simultaneously with the main action.

The gerund acts as a noun, and the participle acts as a circumstance or attribute.

2. Incorrect use of the passive voice.

The passive participle is formed from being + past participle.

Error: Being writing a letter, he was happy.
Correct: Being asked a question, he was happy. – When he was asked, he was happy.

In this form, the action is directed at the object, so you need to use being + past participle.

3. Incorrect placement of the participle.

The participle must be placed next to the noun it describes. Otherwise, the meaning of the sentence changes.

Error: I saw a man walking down the street with a dog.
Correct: I saw a man walking down the street, with a dog following him.

An incorrectly placed participle can create ambiguity.

4. The action does not occur simultaneously.

The present participle expresses an action that occurs simultaneously with or precedes the main action.

Error: Breaking the cup, I realized my mistake.
Correct: Having broken the cup, I realized my mistake. – The action precedes the main action.

Interestingly, in English, it is the use of the perfect participle (having + past participle) that allows you to convey nuances of time that are not found in many other languages. For example, in German or French, you have to construct an entire subordinate clause, whereas in English, one short form is sufficient.

5. Incorrect use of being.

The participle being is not used to indicate time (when/while), but to convey the reason for the action.

Mistake: Being a child, I loved cartoons. – incorrect for time.
Correct for time: When I was a child, I loved cartoons.
Correct for reason: Being tired, I went to bed early. – Being tired, I went to bed early.
English allows you to use being + adjective or participle to convey the reason for an action very briefly and concisely, whereas in many other languages you have to construct a complete subordinate clause for this.

6. Omission or incorrect use of commas.

Concurrent actions of a participle may require a comma to avoid ambiguity.

Error: She met her friends walking in the park.
Correct: She met her friends, walking in the park.
The position of a comma and a participle can completely change the meaning of a sentence, so even a small comma becomes an important tool for expressing an idea.

7. Using a participle before a noun.

The active participle describes only the person performing the action.

Correct: The boiling water is hot.
Error for the gerund: The boiling point is 100°C. – here, boiling is not a participle, but part of the term (gerund).
The active participle is used only to describe an action performed by the object or person itself. The gerund in the same -ing form denotes a process or concept and does not function as a modifier. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish between these two forms according to the rules of grammar in order to avoid confusion in translation and sentence construction.

Now you know more about how and when the past participle is used in English. The use of the present participle and participle phrases makes speech more lively and expressive, allowing you to convey subtle nuances of meaning and create more complex sentence structures. By integrating them into your speech, you will be able to express your thoughts more accurately and effectively.