English Participles

In the previous post, we defined gerunds and participles in English grammar and discussed the differences between them. We also read two passages from Hard Times (1854) by Charles Dickens in order to find out which ones contain gerunds or participles. Do you have confidence in your ability to identify gerunds from present participles when […]

For many students, one tricky point in English grammar is understanding the distinction between gerunds and participles.  How do you find them? Are they understandable? If not, that’s fine! I will offer a brief explanation and a couple of illustrations from Charles Dickens’ classic, Hard Times.  Firstly, a participle is a word that derives from a verb and can end with