-ED/-ING
Participles of Emotional Response Verbs
Grammatical Summary
Formation
In order to help students understand the distinction
between -ed and -ing
participles and use them properly, it is first necessary to
review some basic facts about verbs, types of verbs, and the
functions of verbs. It is a specific type of verb, an "emotional
response verb," that is relevant to the issue of -ed
and -ing participles.
WHAT IS A VERB?
A verb is a word or phrase (group of words) that is a major
sentence element. The verb expresses a state or an action and
provides essential information within a sentence. Without a
verb, a group of words is not a complete thought. For example:
*George a doctor.
(The * indicates that the sentence is not a
grammatical sentence of English.) Is George a doctor? Did George
go to a doctor? What happened? What is this string of words
trying to say about George and the doctor? Because there is
no verb, this string of words is not a complete thought in English;
therefore, it is not a grammatical sentence.
There are several types of verbs, which provide
different kinds of information within sentences:
Action Verbs
An action verb, for example, walk,
play, dance,
work, indicates that someone or
something does something:
George plays
tennis twice a week.
We work ten hours a day.
Stative Verbs
A stative verb, for example, live,
think, stand,
love, shows the state of being of
the subject of the sentence:
Frank lives
in New York.
The sales clerk stood behind
the counter.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb, for example, appear,
look, seem,
sound, feel,
describes the appearance of the subject noun phrase in a sentence:
Denise sounds
cheerful.
John looks tired.
Emotional Response Verbs
An emotional response verb indicates that someone
feels something; something happened to cause an emotional response.
Sentences with emotional response verbs have a SOURCE, a noun
phrase that serves as the "stimulus" of the emotional
response. And they have an EXPERIENCER, a noun phrase that "receives"
or experiences the emotion. Consider the following sentence:
The amount of the tax rebate
surprised me.
In this sentence, the emotional response verb
is surprised; the SOURCE noun phrase
is the amount of the tax rebate;
and the EXPERIENCER is me.
Functions of Verbs
The function of a verb in any sentence is twofold:
1. To tell the action/state of
being/appearance or emotional response of the sentence elements
2. To give the time (tense) of the action,
state of being, appearance or emotional response.
In other words, the verb tells the action, etc.,
of the subject noun phrase and when the action, etc., occurred.
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