The second participle

The second participle, that is, forms like invited, liked, written, taken, etc., presents many peculiar difficulties for analysis. In analysing the category of correlation and that of voice in the participle and in stating that the participle has no category of tense, we have so far not mentioned these forms at all.

The Second Participle 188

Now we must give them some special consideration.

First of all we must emphasise that we will analyse the meaning and the use of the second participle when it does not make part of an analytical verb form, whether it be the perfect (have invited, have taken), or the passive voice (was invited, was taken). When the second participle makes part of an analytical form, it loses some of its own characteristics, and indeed we may doubt whether it should still bear the name of participle in those cases.

Again, in analysing the meaning and the functions of the second participle, we must exclude the cases where it has been adjectivised, that is, changed into an adjective, and is no longer a participle, for example, in such phrases as written work, which is used as the opposite of oral work, or devoted friend, where devoted does not designate an action, or, indeed, the result of an action, but a property.

The use of the second participle outside the analytical formations is comparatively limited. We find it either as a predicative in such cases as The door is shut, when it does not denote an action (compare, The door is shut at nine p. m. every day) but a state of things, or as an objective predicative, e. g. He found the door shut, or as an attribute following a noun, more often with some words accompanying it, as in This is the new machine invented by our engineers, and less often an attribute preceding the noun, as in " The Bartered Bride" (the title of Smetana's opera). We can note that the use of second participles as prepositive attributes is on the whole limited in English. For example, the title of the opera just mentioned could not be rendered in English with the help of the participle sold, as this participle cannot be used in that way.

Analysis of the grammatical categories expressed in the second participle is a matter of great difficulty, and so is the problem of finding its place among the other participles.

Let us first consider the problems of aspect, tense, and correlation with reference to this participle. Let us take our examples with intransitive verbs, so that the problem of voice may be left aside for the moment.

It was pointed out long ago that many intransitive verbs have no second participle that could be used outside the analytical forms of the perfect. For instance, such forms as been, laughed, run, sat, lain, wept, etc. can only appear within a perfect form and do not exist as separate participles. A few second participles of intransitive verbs can, however, be used as attributes, e. g. retired in expressions like a retired colonel, or a retired teacher. We may also compare the word runaway (spelt as one word, from the phrase run away), for example, in the expression a runaway horse.

On the whole, then, with intransitive verbs the second participle does not constitute an integral part of the verbal system at all,

134 The Verb: Verbals

and it may be left out of consideration when we analyse that system.

Things are different with transitive verbs. Here, though the use of the second participle as an attribute is limited, there can be no doubt that it exists as a separate form of the verb and not merely as a component of the analytical perfect or passive.

It is also clear that as far as the category of voice goes the past participle of transitive verbs belongs to the passive. We need not illustrate this by examples, since this is common knowledge. It is only necessary to mention the few special cases in which the second participle has no passive meaning in the usual sense, e. g. a well-read man 'one who has read much', not 'one who has been read', or he was drunk, and a few more. These are separate phenomena restricted to a few verbs.

As to aspect, tense, and correlation, the problem appears to be this: Which of these categories find expression in the form of the second participle itself, i. e. do not depend either on the lexical meaning of the verb or on the context? This proviso is necessary, because differences in meaning can be found which do depend on lexical peculiarities of the verb and on the context. We can, for instance, compare such phrases as the following: (1) a young man liked by everybody, (2) a young man killed in the war. It is clear at once that the action denoted by the participle liked is going on, whereas that denoted by the participle killed is finished. This certainly should not be interpreted as two different meanings of the participle as a grammatical form, since it depends on the lexical meaning of the verb (the verb like denotes an emotional attitude, which can last indefinitely, while the verb kill denotes an action which reaches its end and does not last after that). We must then say that the meaning of the form as such is not affected by these differences.

The conclusion about the grammatical categories in the second participle (of transitive verbs) is, then, this. The only category which is expressed in it is that of voice (namely, the passive voice); the other categories, namely, aspect, tense, and correlation (and, of course, mood, person, and number) find no expression in it. Owing to these peculiarities, the second participle occupies a unique position in the verbal system, and it is impossible to find for it a place in a table where special columns or lines are allotted to aspect, tense, and correlation.

As far as voice is concerned, the second participle of transitive verbs (e. g. invited) joins the other passive participles (e. g. being invited and having been invited) as against the active participles inviting and having invited. However, from the formal point of view we run into difficulties here. In all other passive forms, whether finite or non-finite, the category of the passive voice is ex-

The ing-Forms < 185

pressed by the group " be + second participle", whereas the second participle itself, of course, goes without the verb be. We have to choose between accepting this state of things and excluding the second participle from the passive system (that is, if we insist that every passive form must contain the verb be). As this latter alternative appears to be still more undesirable, we shall have to recognise this peculiar position of the second participle among the forms of the passive voice.