present participle

[ prez-uhnt pahr-tuh-sip-uhl ]

noun

1. Grammar. a participle, in English having the suffix -ing, that expresses repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in the growing weeds and the setting sun, and also in forming progressive verb constructions, as in The weeds are growing and The sun was setting.

present participle

noun

1. a participial form of verbs used adjectivally when the action it describes is contemporaneous with that of the main verb of a sentence and also used in the formation of certain compound tenses. In English this form ends in -ing Compare gerund

Word History and Origins

Origin of present participle¹

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

Dederer is continually trying — not in the adjectival sense, but as the present participle: showing us her thought process, correcting as she goes and experimenting with different forms.

From New York Times

He once sent her a brief memo dedicated entirely to the misuse of present participles.

From Washington Times

From that innocent present participle “encouraging” a mighty fountain sprang.

From The New Yorker

The beautifully-paced last line summarises and completes the imagined scenario, but leaves the poem still in motion, ending as it began, with the present participle of a verb.

From The Guardian

But here we have another example of over-compression in the wording, this time in the use of the present participle 'developing' where the cryptic reading requires 'develops'.

From The Guardian