Participle II

Participle II is a non-finite form of the verb with verbal and adjectival.

Participle II stands apart from the other non-finites, in that it does not possess their morphological categories. Nevertheless, being a verb form, it possesses the potential verbal meaning of voice, aspect and correlation, which depend upon the meaning of the verb it is formed from and which are realized in the context..

The main meanings of participle П are those of a state as a result of some action and an action itself. One of the most essential characteristics of participle II is that when it is used as part of the sentence, participle II of a transitive verb is passive in meaning, participle II of an intransitive verb is active.

Thus the participles invited, told, taken are semantically passive and correspond to the Russian passive participles приглашенный, расска­занный, взятый. The participles arrived, gone, risen are semanticallyactive and correspond to the Russian active participles прибывший, ушедший, поднявшийся (взошедший).

The adjectival nature of participle II manifests itself in its function in the sentence, which is usually that of either attribute or predicative. It may combine with adverbs of degree peculiar to adjectives, such as very, too, slightly, so, much, more, as in:

I am very pleased with you.

The children were too excited to notice the newcomer.

No man has ever had a more devoted sister than I.

Instead of the negation not, which we find with the other non-finites, participle II is often negated with the prefix un-, as in unfinished, unanswered.

Participle II may undergo adjectivization, sometimes acquiring qualitative meaning and becoming synonymous with an adjective, as in celebrated-famous, tired-weary. Some of these deverbal adjectives have true participles as homonyms. For example, compare these phrases: the celebrated professor and the anniversary celebrated all over the world).

Similar to adjectives and participle I, participle II may form adverbs with the help of the suffix –ly: fixedly, unhurriedly, admittedly.

The adjectival nature of participle II is traced in adjectivized participles with a form different from; the verbal participle II. These forms occur as attributes in such phrases as on bended knees, a drunken man, a lighted match (candle, torch), molten lava (lead, steel), roast meet, a rotten apple, a shaven head, a well-shaven man, sodden clothes, sunken eyes, a swollen river. Some forms are used predicatively: to be well-stricken in years, to be panic-stricken, poverty-stricken (but thunder struck, theatre struck).

The verbal character of participle II is manifested in its combinability. Thus participle II of transitive verbs easily combines with an agentive by-object, as in Jane entered the room followed by her brother.

Participles II- of phrasal verbs retain their composite structure: a boy brought up in a teacher's family.

Participles II of prepositional transitive verbs are followed by the appropriate prepositions: a book often asked for, the article referred to, a man much spoken of.

Ditransitive verbs keep their second object as in: That was the main question asked her at the wedding.

Participle II may be accompanied by an adverbial modifier expressed by adverbs or phrases combining with verbs: a house built two years before, man hidden in the bush, a play well acted, a story long forgotten. One of the main verbal features of participle II is revealed in its functioning as part of the compound verb forms of the passive voice and the perfect.