adjectiveparticiple

Adjectiveparticiple refers to participle forms that function as adjectives in a sentence. In English grammar, these are called participial adjectives and come in two main kinds: present participle adjectives, which use the -ing form, and past participle adjectives, which use forms such as -ed, -en, or irregular endings. Present participle adjectives describe ongoing action, a characteristic, or a tendency, as in a running stream or an exciting movie. Past participle adjectives describe a state resulting from an action, as in a broken vase or a bored crowd.

Participial adjectives can appear in attributive position before a noun (a running stream, an exciting film, a broken window) or in predicative position after a linking verb (the stream is running, the film is exciting, the window is broken). However, not all participles are equally usable in attributive position. Some adjectives derived from participles are restricted to predicative use or to specific meanings; for example, afraid is typically predicative ("I am afraid") rather than attributive, whereas frightened is often both ("a frightened child" or "the child is frightened").

Semantically, present participle adjectives often convey dynamic or descriptive qualities, while past participle adjectives convey a resulting state or condition. The same root verb can yield paired adjectives with related but distinct meanings, such as interesting (present participle) and interested (past participle). In usage, many participial adjectives are common and productive across registers, though irregular forms and exceptions occur. The term adjectiveparticiple is not standard in all grammars; linguists typically refer to these forms as participial adjectives or adjectival participles.