0071594973.pdf

3 Present Participle

Subject

Pronoun

Present

Participle

Helping

Verb

I

you

he, she, it

(or Singular Noun)

we

you

they

(or Plural Noun)

walked

2 Past Form

Subject Pronoun Past Form

un)

3

I

you

he, she, it

(or Singular Noun)

we

you

they

(or Plural Noun)

am

are

is

are

are

are

walking

To form the present participle, you start with the base form of a
regular or irregular verb. However, there are several spelling
changes to keep in mind:

Add -ing to the base form of the verb: walk ~ walking.

If a verb ends in a silent -e, drop the final -e and add -ing:

write ~ writing.

In one-syllable verbs, the final consonant is often doubled:

swim ~ swimming.

Do not double the consonants w,x, or y: play ~ playing.

Swimming and celebrating are examples of present
participles. Present participles don’t change when they connect
to am,are, and is. They are not able to stand alone, but they
are connected to a form of the helping verb to be.

A verb may consist of more than one word. A main

verb and a helping verb together form a verb phrase.

The following two charts contrast past forms (Principal Part )
with present participles (Principal Part ). Past forms of verbs
stand alone as one word, while present participles (the -ing
form) need a helping verb. It is the helping verb that connects
to the subject and changes according to the subject. The present
participle is the main verb, and it doesn’t change.

Iam.

Helping Verb Present Participle

(Main Verb)

Iam

swimming.

We arecelebrating.

Helping Verb Present Participle

(Main Verb)

3

2

1

3

2

1

3

2

1

3

2

1