Participle and gerund

What is a participle?

A participle is a piece of speech derived from a verb but very often asked to do the work of an adjective.

 (1)

It can end in -ing, in which case it is a present participle: running, jumping, laughing, writing, studying, loving...

Or it may end in -ed, in which case it is a past participle: loved, hated, jumped, killed, walked...

Some verbs have irregular past participles. So we have bought (rather than "buyed"), went (rather than "goed") taught, fought, spoken, fallen, eaten, slept, kept, sold, won etc.

We often use the term participle when a verb is being used as an adjective:

The hated teacher, the sold house, the laughing cow (that's the name of  a French processed  cheese, by the way), the broken arrow, the corrupting influence of money, the speaking clock, the hard-won money.

Sometimes it is hard to decide whether we are dealing with an adjective or a participle:  a sounding board, a working committee, the investigating officer, the wind-swept beach, the crashing waves, the shattering news, the hidden agenda, a gelling agent, the ticking time-bomb, a winning smile.

But so what?  Whether it is an adjective or a participle should not really affect you unless you like thinking about these things, as I do.

You might notice that the present participle is active (i.e. the  noun is the agent-cause), whereas  the past participle is passive (the noun is the affected party and suffers the effect of the verb). This is best shown by example.

That guy is interesting (this is the effect he is having on you)
That guy is interested (this is the effect you are having on him).

My wife is exhausting (poor me, I put up with a lot)
My wife is exhausted (poor her, she has been married to a difficult person for a long time). 

(2)

Annoyingly, the present participle (-ing) is sometimes referred to as the gerund. But we should really distinguish between the two. A gerund is when the -ing form is used not as an adjective but as a noun.

Smoking is bad for you.

Letting off fireworks in your house is not clever, Mario.

Jumping out of an airplane without a parachute is not a mistake you are likely to repeat.

I hate studying.

I love going to the  movies. 

In all these examples, the -ing word is a thing, not an adjective. It answers the question "What?" (What do you love?  -  I love nachos;  I especially love eating them with hot sauce).

It follows that an -ing that comes after a preposition must be a gerund, since prepositions are those words that sit in front of nouns, and a gerund is a noun. 

By working hard and not sleeping, he hopes to pass his test.

In asking that question, you have revealed your real feelings.

On arriving at the station, I was accosted by a group of ruffians. 

(3)

When participles are not being used as adjectives or nouns (gerunds), they are participating (hence their name) in the formation of a multi-word verb. 

I am running - The full verb is "am running". The verb is therefore made up of two parts; a finite part (am) and a participle (running).

I have gone (finite part: have; participle: gone; full verb: have gone)

She should have been studying (finite part: should have: participle 1: been; participle 2: studying; full verb: should have been studying)

They will be going (finite part: will be; participle: going; full verb: will be going).