VOA慢速英语2018--The Exciting World of Participial Adjectives

 

The English language has a lot of adjectives². Some estimates³ put the number at several thousand. And while those numbers may sound frightening, adjectives can be exciting!

In English, many adjectives come from verbs. In today’s program, we will tell you about participial adjectives – adjectives that we make from verbs.

To understand these adjectives, we must first get to know participles.

What is a participle?

Don’t worry: Participles are simpler than they sound. A participle is a word that is made from a verb and usually ends in -ING or -ED. For example, the verb “to surprise” can be made into the words “surprising” and “surprised.”

Participles can act as one of three parts of speech:

1) a verb tense when used with the verb “to be”

2) a gerund

3) an adjective¹.

Today, we turn our attention to adjectives.

Participial adjectives are used just like normal adjectives. In other words, they can appear before a noun⁴, such as in the words “surprising results.” Or, they can appear after linking verbs, such as in the sentence, “The results were surprising.”

Past or present?

There are two types of participles: the present participle, which ends in –ING, and the past participle, which ends in -ED.

Adjectives with -ED endings tell us how people feel about something or someone. It is less common for words with the –ED ending to describe non-living things, situations or ideas.

And, adjectives with -ING endings often describe a quality of a person, thing or idea. They describe the thing that causes a feeling or emotion.

Let’s look at two examples of the verb “to shock” as a participial adjective and compare their meanings:

I was shocked by the president’s words.

The president’s words were shocking⁵.

In the first sentence, “shocked,” tells us how the speaker felt. In the second, “shocking” describes the thing that caused the speaker’s feelings – the president’s words.

In other words, the shocking words made the person feel shocked.

Common mistakes

English learners sometimes have trouble choosing between the endings. This is especially true for certain adjectives, such as bored / boring, interested / interesting and confused / confusing.

There are two common mistakes that happen when learners choose the wrong ending:

The person incorrectly uses -ED to talk about the thing that caused the feelings in someone.

(OR)

The person uses the wrong ending to express their intended meaning about someone.

Listen to an example of the first problem:

I don’t like Professor Holt. His writing class is so bored!

In this example, the person incorrectly used the -ED ending to describe the thing that caused boredom⁶: the writing class. Here is the correct way to say that:

I don’t like Professor Holt. His writing class is so boring!

Or, if they wanted to express their feelings about the class, they could say this:

I don’t like Professor Holt. I’m always bored in his writing class.

Sadly, we can’t do anything to make Professor Holt’s class more fun.

Let’s look at an example of the second common mistake: using the wrong ending to express an intended meaning about a person. And, let’s continue with Professor Holt. Listen:

Professor Holt is so bored! I always fall asleep in his class.

Remember that the -ED ending is used to describe the feelings of someone. So, this example means that the professor feels bored. But, we know that this wasn’t the speaker’s intended meaning. Here’s the intended meaning:

Professor Holt is so boring! I always fall asleep in his class.

This example expresses a quality about Professor Holt, which is that he is a boring person.

Here is a tip from the British Council⁷ on how to know which ending to use: Remember that people can be boring but only if they make other people feel bored. The same tip applies to other participial adjectives.

Adjective vs. verb

Another common difficulty is mistaking participial adjectives with continuous⁸ verb tenses or with passive⁹ voice verbs.

First, let’s talk about continuous verb tenses. These are formed with the verb “to be” + the present participle. So, participial adjectives ending in -ING can look like a verb tense.

Listen to two examples with the word “annoying” and guess which one uses a continuous verb tense and which uses a participial adjective.

The baby’s cries are annoying the tired travelers.

The baby’s cries are annoying and the travelers are tired.

If you guessed correctly, you are within the top percentile of English speakers. That’s right -- even native English speakers have difficulty telling the difference.

The first sentence uses the present continuous verb tense. But in the second sentence, “annoying” is a participial adjective. It describes the baby’s cries, which is the thing causing the speaker’s annoyed feelings. The word “are” in the second sentence is simply a linking verb.

English speakers also sometimes cannot recognize the difference between passive voice verbs and participial adjectives. Both are formed by the verb “to be” + the past participle.

Listen to these two examples and test yourself:

The child was amazed¹⁰ by the clown.

The child was amazed.

Tell us which sentence you think has a passive voice verb and which has a participial adjective with a linking verb.

Well, we hope you feel as inspired by the exciting world of participial adjectives as we do.

That’s our program for today.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

linking verb – n. a verb which connects a subject to its predicate without expressing an action; linking verbs are used to re-identify or describe their subjects

intended – adj. in your mind as a purpose or goal

tip – n. a piece of advice or useful information

guess – v. to form an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much or anything about it

1 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

2 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

5 shocking   

adj.令人气愤的；令人震惊的

参考例句：

• His attitude was shocking to her.他的态度令她感到震惊。
• Such behaviour is really shocking.这种行为真不像话。

6 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

7 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

8 continuous   

adj.继续的，连续的，持续的，延伸的

参考例句：

• She finally got in after 10 years'continuous effort.坚持不懈地努力了十年后，她终于当选了。
• We must be continuous to study.我们必须不断学习。

9 passive   

adj.被动的；消极的

参考例句：

• He has a passive expression on his face.他脸上有一种漠然的表情。
• It lands the manager in a passive position.它使经理处于被动地位。

10 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。