Present participle / ing-form

(Use and formation of the present participle or ing-form of the verb in English)

Table of contents – present participle

On this page you will find the following:

  1. Use of the present participle
  2. Formation of the present participle
  3. Differences between British and American English
  4. Further explanations and exercises

What is the present participle and how is it used (explanation)?

The present participle (sometimes also called ing-participle) or simply ing-form can be used in different ways. It is not limited to a specific word category! In general, it is often utilised as follows:

  1. The present participle can assume the role of different parts of speech:
    • As a full/main verb in the ing-form (progressive form) in the continuous tenses:
    • Employment of the present participle as an adjective with reference to a noun:
      • “My trip to South America was an exciting experience.”
      • “The movie was very interesting.”
    • Alternatively, direct use as a noun in the form of a gerund:
      • “My brother is taking driving lessons.”
      • “Running a marathon is very difficult.”
  2. The ing-participle serves to connect clauses or parts of sentences with the same subject:
    • Connected structure: “Tony left without saying anything.”
      • “Tony left and didn’t say anything.”
        • Two clauses are joined by the conjunction ‘and’.
      • “Tony left. She didn’t say anything.”
        • two separate sentences
  3. It is also possible to shorten relative clauses in which the relative pronoun is omitted:
    • Shortened structure: “The man living next door is my grandfather.”
      • “The man who lives next door is my grandfather.”
  4. Usage of the ing-form after verbs that express stillness and movement, such as ‘go, come, run, lie, sit, stand, stay’:
    • “The woman ran screaming down the street.”
  5. Also, after verbs that describe senses and perceptions such as ‘feel, hear, see, watch, smell, listen to, notice, find’:
    • “The postman saw the dog sleeping in front of the house.”
  6. Furthermore, the present participle may appear in sentences with ‘there + to be’ (‘is, are, have been’ etc.):
    • “In the city centre, there was a car driving too fast.”
    • “There are a lot of people waiting in line at the bank.”
  7. In addition, there is a whole series of verbs that can or must be followed by a verb in the ing-form. In such a case, there may be a difference in meaning between ing- and simple forms:
    • Example verbs that the present participle can follow are ‘start, continue, begin’ etc.:
      • “The teacher continued showing the video.”
    • The ing-form needs to come after specific verbs including ‘finish, avoid, keep on, suggest, enjoy, mind’:
      • “Sue has just finished painting.”
    • Verbs such as ‘stop, regret, remember’ have a different meaning when followed by an ing-form as to when followed by a simple form:
      • “Finally, it stopped raining.”

How is the present participle formed (particularities)?

The present participle is generally formed by adding the suffix ‘-ing’ to the word stem (therefore, it is sometimes called ing-participle). In spite of that, there are some distinctive peculiarities about spelling, which need to be taken into account when forming it. Compare the formation in detail:

  1. In most cases, simply ‘-ing’ is attached to the verb without changing it:
    • talk → talking
    • spy → spying
  2. However, if the verb ends with an ‘-e’, the same is omitted:
    • take → taking
    • move → moving
    • Be careful: If there is a double ‘e’ at the end of the verb, the vowel stays:
      • see → seeing
  3. If the verb ends with a stressed vowel + consonant, the consonant is doubled:
    • run → running
    • fit → fitting
    • prefer → preferring
    • Be careful: Verbs whose last syllable is not stressed are not subject to a doubling of the consonant (for exceptions see differences in American and British English below):
      • render → rendering
      • reckon → reckoning
    • Similarly, after a double vowel, the consonant is not doubled either:
      • conceal → concealing
  4. For verbs ending in ‘-ie’, the ‘-ie’ is replaced by ‘-y’ in order to avoid three vowels in a row:
    • tie → tying
    • lie → lying
  5. Verbs that have an ‘-ic’ at the end get an additional ‘-k’ inserted before the ending ‘-ing’:
    • panic → panicking

Spelling differences of the present participle in American and British English

There are slight differences between British and American English concerning the formation of the present participle (ing-form) and accordingly its spelling. The following needs to be considered in detail:

  • In British English, verbs that end with a stressed or an unstressed vowel + ‘-l’ double the ‘-l’ and add ‘-ing’ to it:
    • travel → travelling
      • The last syllable contains an unstressed vowel; ‘-l’ is doubled.
    • enrol → enrolling
      • Here, the last syllable contains a stressed vowel, and so the ‘-l’ is doubled here too.
  • In American English, on the other hand, the ‘-l’ is only doubled in verbs that end with a stressed vowel + ‘-l’:
    • travel → traveling
      • Here, an unstressed vowel appears inside the last syllable; accordingly no doubling occurs.
    • enrol → enrolling
      • Stressed vowel at the end, and so the ‘-l’ is doubled.

Further explanations relating to the ‘Present participle’

The following explanations are related to the topic ‘Use and formation of the present participle (ing-form)’ and may also be helpful: