Editing Participle (section)

==Types of participle==
Participles are often identified with a particular [[grammatical tense|tense]], as with the English [[present tense|present]] participle and [[past tense|past]] participle (see under [[Participle#English|English]] below). However, this is often a matter of convention; present participles are not necessarily associated with the expression of present time, or past participles necessarily with past time.

Participles may also be identified with a particular [[grammatical voice|voice]]: [[active voice|active]] or [[passive voice|passive]]. Some languages (such as Latin and Russian) have distinct participles for active and passive uses. In English the present participle is essentially an active participle, while the past participle has both active and passive uses. The following examples illustrate this:
*I saw John eating his dinner. (''eating'' is an active participle; the modified noun ''John'' is understood as the [[agent (grammar)|agent]])
*I have eaten my dinner. ([[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] construction; ''eaten'' is an active participle here)
*The fish was eaten by lions. (here ''eaten'' is a passive participle; ''the fish'' is understood as the [[patient (grammar)|patient]], i.e. to undergo the action)

A distinction is also sometimes made between '''adjectival participles''' and '''adverbial participles'''. An adverbial participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on such a participle) plays the role of an [[adverbial]] ([[adverb]] phrase) in the sentence in which it appears, whereas an adjectival participle (or a participial phrase/clause based on one) plays the role of an [[adjective phrase]]. Some languages have different forms for the two types of participle; such languages include [[Russian grammar|Russian]]<sup>[]</sup> and other [[Slavic languages]], [[Hungarian grammar|Hungarian]], and many [[Eskimo languages]], such as [[Sirenik Eskimo language|Sireniki]],<sup>[]</sup> which has a [[Sirenik Eskimo language#Participles|sophisticated participle system]]. Details can be found in the sections below or in the articles on the grammars of specific languages.

Some descriptive grammars treat adverbial and adjectival participles as distinct [[lexical category|lexical categories]], while others include them both in a single category of participles.<sup>[]</sup><sup>[]</sup> Sometimes different names are used; adverbial participles in certain languages may be called [[converb]]s, [[gerund]]s or [[gerundive]]s (although this is not consistent with the meanings of the terms ''gerund'' or ''gerundive'' as normally applied to English or Latin), or [[transgressive (linguistics)|transgressive]]s.

Sometimes adjectival participles come to be used as pure adjectives, without any verbal characteristics (''[[deverbal adjective]]s''). They then no longer take [[object (grammar)|object]]s or other modifiers typical of verbs, possibly taking instead modifiers that are typical of adjectives, such as the English word ''very''. The difference is illustrated by the following examples:
*The subject '''interesting''' him at the moment is Greek history.
*Greek history is an '''interesting''' subject.
In the first sentence ''interesting'' is used as a true participle; it acts as a verb, taking the object ''him'', and forming the participial phrase ''interesting him at the moment'', which then serves as an [[adjective phrase]] modifying the noun ''subject''. However, in the second sentence ''interesting'' has become a pure adjective; it stands in an adjective's typical position before the noun, it can no longer take an object, and it could be accompanied by typical adjective modifiers such as ''very'' or ''quite'' (or in this case the prefix ''un-''). Similar examples are "''interested'' people", "a ''frightened'' rabbit", "''fallen'' leaves", "''meat-eating'' animals".