indentifying participles vs verbs

Question

Can some please elaborate how can we know whether the verb from is a participle or a complete verb?

thanks

KyleWiddison · Answer

This can be very tricky, especially since the GMAT loves to use past and present participles as modifiers. I'll explain the 2 participles separately.

Present participle  - It's relatively simple to distinguish between the verb form and modifier (or noun) forms on present participles. To be a verb form the participle needs a helping verb (to be). Without the helping verb, the participle is a modifier or noun.
Examples of verb form: 
I am driving to school. 
I am eating a PBJ sandwich.
Examples of noun/modifier form: 
Driving to school is fun.   
Eating a PBJ sandwich, I made a mess on my shirt.

Past participle  - This is a bit more difficult because the participle can be a regular verb, complex tense verb (needs helping verb), passive verb (needs helping verb) or modifier.
Examples of verb forms: 
I worked all night long.   
I had purchased a car before the dealer dropped the price.   
The unfortunate man was misdiagnosed by the sloppy doctor.  
Examples of modifier form: 
Planned for weeks in advance, the party was an enormous success.   
The rusted car was worthless.

This is tricky stuff. Spend some time getting comfortable with the different forms and pay attention to when the GMAT uses participles as modifiers. Modifiers are tested as a grammatical and meaning issue on the GMAT, so improving your ability to spot and understand modifiers will improve your score.

KW

mohish · Answer

Hi Kyle, I believe this is not correct. the 2nd verb is a  Past Participle  and not a  regular past tense .

KyleWiddison · Answer

That is precisely why these '-ed' verbs are so tricky. The same word can be either verb or modifier depending on the usage in the sentence. "I dropped the ball." Here 'dropped' is a simple past tense verb. "The dropped ball was heavy." Here 'dropped' is a modifier for ball, not a verb.

I my example above, "the dealer dropped the price" is an independent clause with 'dealer' as the subject, 'dropped' as the simple past tense verb, and 'the price' as the object.

KW

egmat · Answer

Hi there, I'm replying prettey late on this. But they say "better late than never".

Please read the following article to have some clarity as to how to know if a verb-ed is averb or a modifier: ed-forms-verbs-or-modifiers-134691.html Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

IN2MBB2PE · Answer

Hello  egmat  - I read through your explanation still did not understand. You mentioned - "If the Subject of the sentence us the "doer" of the verb-ed form, then the verb-ed form is used as a verb in the simple past tense."

What about the following example -

The local team, supported by the crowd, but plagued by injuries

I thought it is the subject "local team" that is plagued by injuries, so plagued here in verb no?

Please explain, thanks!

VerbalBot · Answer

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indentifying participles vs verbs

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