Exploring Language

Lesson 1.4f Verb – Past Participle

downloable worksheet

 

The past participle is a verb form that occurs with a form of have: has, have, or had:

 

A fox has spotted a rabbit.

The hawk had eaten a rabbit.

 

The past participle can be a little tricky to identify since it sometimes looks exactly like the past tense, which you may have discovered in Lesson 1.4a. The difference, though, is that the past tense always occurs alone and the past participle has to occur with has, have, or had.

 

past tense                         past participle

talked                                 had talked

understood                        have understood

brought                              had bought

sang                                   have sung

saw                                    has seen

 

Come up with at least eight verbs and write their past tense and past participial forms. Compare with others and discuss.

 

A form of the auxiliary verb have plus the past participle together is called the perfect aspect of a verb.

Consider how the past tense is different from the past participle, when used to express perfect aspect:

 

She sang.                           = past tense

She has sung.                    = perfect aspect (using past participle)

 

What’s the difference in meaning? When would you use the perfect aspect? When would you use has sung versus had sung?

 

The form with has or have is sometimes called the present perfect since it uses a present tense form of the auxiliary verb have.

We have seen the results.

 

The form with had is sometimes called the past perfect since it uses a past tense form of the auxiliary verb have.

We had seen the results.

 

Activity:

Find examples of the past tense in a book or other text.

Find examples of perfect aspect (a form of have plus a past participle).

Write them down and discuss your findings with each other.

 

key words: verb, tense, aspect, participle, past participle, past tense

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1d Form and use regular and irregular verbs. 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1e Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses. 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.1b Form and use the progressive (e.g., I was walking; I am walking; I will be walking) verb tenses. 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L5.1b Form and use the perfect (e.g., I had walked; I have walked; I will have walked) verb tenses. 

 

Here is this lesson as a pdf.