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] *******************************************