ESEN
Which one to use?Advancedpresent participlepast participle
Present participle (-ing)vsPast participle (-ed)
Participle clauses replace a full clause with 'when' or 'because'; present participle is active, past participle is passive.
Side-by-side comparison
Present participle (-ing)
present participleParticiple clauses use the present ("-ing") or past ("-ed") participle to condense two sentences into one, removing the connector and the repeated subject.
Having finished her homework, she went downstairs to watch TV with her family.
Seeing that it was getting late, they decided to take a taxi instead of walking.
Not knowing the way, she asked a local for directions to the nearest station.
Past participle (-ed)
past participleThe subject of the participle clause must match the subject of the main clause. If they do not match, the result is a dangling participle that sounds incorrect.
Given the bad weather, the school decided to cancel the outdoor sports day.
Based on your score, we recommend starting with the intermediate level course.
Once finished, the project must be submitted online through the school platform.
Common mistake
- •The most serious error is the "dangling participle": the participle subject must match the main verb subject.
- •"Walking to the meeting, the proposal was discussed" is wrong (the proposal cannot walk); correct: "Walking to the meeting, she discussed the proposal." Also: active subject = -ing; subject receiving the action = -ed/-en.
Trick to remember it
Always ask: "Who performs the participle action?" If the answer is not the main clause subject = dangling participle = wrong. Active subject = -ing. Passive subject = -ed/-en. Prior completed action = having + participle.
Quick rule
The participle subject and main verb subject must match. Active subject = -ing. Passive subject = -ed/-en. Prior completed action = having + participle.
Did you know?
The "dangling participle" is so frequent in native English writing that style books of major newspapers have entire sections dedicated to detecting and correcting it. Linguist Geoffrey Pullum has called it a "democratic error" of English, it affects writers at all education levels equally. One of the most cited examples appeared in the New York Times: "Having been in the fridge for over a week, I was afraid to eat the leftovers", grammatically implying that the PERSON spent a week in the refrigerator. These errors are especially common with HAVING + participle and with opening gerunds, and are practically impossible to detect in spoken language, they only appear in writing.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
_____ in the park, she noticed someone drop their wallet.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
_____ all the food, they sat down to watch a film.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
Active voicevsPassive voice
In the active voice the subject acts; in the passive voice the subject receives the action.
Direct speechvsReported speech
Direct speech reproduces exact words in quotes; reported speech conveys what was said with changes in tense and pronouns.
GerundvsInfinitive
Some verbs take a gerund (-ing), others take an infinitive (to + verb), and some take both with different meanings.
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy