Adjectives: Participials

Participials: Adjectives from Verbs

Participial adjectives (-ed participials and -ing participials) are mainly derived from verbs. They serve as both attributiveAn adjective which is used before a noun. and predicativeAn adjective which is used after a verb. Predicative adjectives may be subject predicatives or object predicatives. adjectives.

• Starting about 65,000 to 50,000 years ago, more advancedattributive comparative adjective (-ed participial) technologynoun phrase head started appearing [ ]. (Longrich 2020)
• AI technologies are also a form of, but are internet-based attributive, compound adjective (noun + -ed participial) digitalattributive adjective technologynoun phrase head but are more advancedpredicative adjective (comparative, -ed participial). (Shivhare 2019)
• In fact, all animals do it – with some interestingattributive adjective (-ing participial) variationsnoun phrase head. (McMakin 2021)
• While the complexity is realpredicative adjective and interestingpredicative adjective (-ing participial), ultimately, how to brew is a personal choice. (Beckett 2022)
  
  Although there is a verb "to interest", the adjectives, interesting and interested, may be considered derivations from the noun. Often, where the adjective contains a prefix the derivation is more remote:
• For now, these questions remain unansweredpredicative adjective (-ed participial). (Beaty 2018)
  
  There is no verb "to unanswer"; it derives from the verb "to answer" with the negative prefix "un-". In fact, "answered" as an adjective is rare ("answered question" is one possibility) but unanswered has more collocates: unanswered posts, questions, messages, points, threads, prayers ...
  Participial Adjectives also occur in adjectival compoundsCompound adjectives (or adjectival compounds) are useful in academic writing because, like noun compounds, they pack a lot of information into a short space, avoiding complex modification like relative clauses.:
• Plant-eatingcompound adjective (noun + -ing participial) animalsnoun phrase head would have struggled to stay alive. (Poropat 2020)
  
  The compound in this example consists of a noun + participial adjective. Participial compounds are often found in academic prose because, like complex noun phrases, they pack a lot of information into a short space.

Further Examples

• It is an exciting and fascinatingattributive -ing participial adjectives ideanoun phrase head. (Smart 2022)
• Researchers call it infant-directedcompound adjective (noun + -ed participial) speechnoun phrase head. (Lam-Cassettari 2019)
• In other words, the heatedattributive adjective (-ed participial) airnoun phrase head is less densepredicative, comparative adjective (Sherwood 2023)
• When do we become left-handedpredicative adjective (adjective + -ed participial) or right-handedpredicative adjective (adjective + -ed participial)? (Barton and Todorovic 2021)
  
  These are adjectival compounds. In this case, "handed" derives from a noun.
• It makes a quietattributive adjective, high-pitchedattributive compound adjective (adjective + -ed participial) rustlingattributive -ing participial adjective soundnoun phrase head. (Job 2021)
• Is there a bettercomparative adjective waynoun phrase head to support a well-informedcompound adjective (adverb + -ed participial societynoun phrase head? (Ashley 2019)
• Another example is the complexattributive adjective thinkingnoun phrase head you need to do when playing a fast-movingcompound adjective (adverb + -ing participial) video gamenoun phrase head. (Chater 2019)
• Microbes are livingattributive adjective (-ing participial) single-celledattributive adjective (adjective + -ed participial) creaturesnoun phrase head surroundedpostposed adjective (-ed participial, complemented by a prepositional phrase) by a membrane. (Noll 2023)