Present Participles

A present participle is a verb form that ends in -ing. It can show an action in progress after a form of be, and it can also act like an adjective before or after a noun. Some -ing words are also gerunds, so the same form can have different jobs in different sentences.

Most present participles are made by adding -ing to the base verb. This is the regular pattern for many common verbs.

Some verbs change spelling before -ing. These changes follow common patterns with silent-e, short stressed vowels, and verbs ending in -ie.

Present participles are used after a form of be to make continuous tenses. These forms describe an action that is in progress at a time in the present, past, or future.

A present participle can describe a noun like an adjective. It often shows that the noun is doing the action or has an active quality.

The same -ing form can be a present participle or a gerund, depending on its job in the sentence. When it helps make a continuous tense or describes a noun, it is a present participle. You can now recognize present participles, form them with common spelling rules, and use them in continuous tenses and adjective-like phrases.