Richard Veit wrote:

>  It is strange that the tradition is to speak of the "present"
> participle and the "past" participle when the difference between them
> has nothing to do with tense and everything to do with voice.   "The
> so-called present and past participles are really the active and
> passive participles respectively.  As examples:

I agree with Richard that calling the participles "present" and "past"
participles is most awkward, as these forms  signify nothing about time
reference itself. Indeed, I spend time each semester debunking this
notion with students, and then have to consistently remind them
throughout the semester that tense marking is NOT found on the last verb
of a multiverb clause -- it is found on the FIRST verb.

>
>
> The "present" (active) participial phrase "the child eating the
> candy..." corresponds to the active relative clause "the child that is
> eating the candy...."
>
> The "past" (passive) participial phrase "the candy eaten by the
> child..." corresponds to the passive relative clause "the candy that
> is eaten by the child...."A change of nomenclature to active
> participles and passive participles would clarify these ubiquitous
> constructions for our students (and ourselves) since the standard
> terms are inaccurate and misleading.

It is true that the '-ing' form Dick cites occurs when the form is in
active voice, and the '-en' form occurs when the verb is in passive
voice. But there's more going on than that. The concern I have with
dubbing these "active" and "passive" participles respectively is that
the "-ing" form ITSELF does not signal active voice. It signals
progressive aspect (ongoing, uncompleted action, action not having
finished a full cycle). To name the progressive marker by calling it an
active participle would seem to conflate/confuse aspect and voice.

But Dick is absolutely right that the naming of these participles as
'past' and 'present' is a pernicious misnomer


ciao,

rebecca

>
>
> Dick Veit
> UNCW English Department
> http://www.uncwil.edu/people/veit/DEG/

*******************************************
Rebecca S. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Christopher Newport University
1 University Place
Newport News, VA 23606-2998

Editor, Syntax in the Schools
The newsletter of the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
(ATEG), an
assembly of the NCTE
http://www2.pct.edu/courses/evavra/ATEG/SiS.htm

phone: (757) 594-8891;  fax: (757) 594-8870
email: [log in to unmask]

*******************************************