A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed.

There are two types of participles: present participles and past participles.

Past participles end in -ed or V 3 Present participles end in -ing. crying burning smiling eaten seen asked

Participles are used with the auxiliary verbs be and have to make progressive, perfect and passive verb forms: It was raining when I got home. I've forgotten your name. You'll be told as soon as possible.

Participles can be used like adjectives: I love the noise of falling rain. She says she's got a broken heart. John has become very boring.

Sometimes participles are used like adverbs: She ran screaming out of the room.

Participles can combine with other words into clause-like structures: Who's the fat man sitting in the corner? Having lost all my money, I went home. Most of the people invited to the party didn't turn up.