Present participle
El "present participle" de la mayoría de los verbos sigue la estructura raíz del verbo + -ing. Se usa de muy diversas maneras.
El "present participle" en las formas progresivas del verbo
Ejemplos
- I am working.
- He was singing.
- They have been walking.
- We will be staying.
- She would have been expecting me.
El "present participle" tras verbos de movimiento y posición
Esta construcción es particularmente útil con el verbo "to go".
Ejemplos
- She went shopping.
- I go running every morning.
- He lay looking up at the clouds.
- She came running towards me.
El "present participle" tras verbos de percepción
En este uso, la estructura seguida es verbo + objeto + "present participle". Cuando estas oraciones contienen un infinitivo sin "to" en lugar de un participio, el significado varía. El infinitivo se refiere a una acción terminada, mientras que el "present participle" implica una acción en progreso.
Ejemplos
- I heard someone singing.
- He saw his friend walking along the road.
- I can smell something burning!
- I watched the birds flying away.
El "present participle" como adjetivo
Ejemplos
- It was an amazing film.
- Dark billowing clouds often precede a storm.
- He was trapped inside the burning house.
- Many of his paintings show the setting sun.
El "present participle" con los verbos "spend" y "waste"
Con estos verbos, la construcción sigue la forma verbo + expresión de tiempo o dinero + "present participle".
Ejemplos
- My boss spends two hours a day travelling to work.
- Don't waste time playing computer games!
- They've spent the whole day shopping.
- I wasted money buying this game.
El "present participle" con los verbos "catch" y "find"
La construcción con estos verbos sigue la estructura verbo + objeto + "present participle". En el caso de "catch", el participio siempre hace referencia a una acción que genera molestia o enfado, a diferencia de lo que ocurre con "find", que no conlleva carga emocional.
Examples
- If I catch you stealing my apples again, there'll be trouble!
- Don't let him catch you reading his letters.
- I caught him going through my bag.
- We found some money lying on the ground.
- They found their mother sitting in the garden.
El "present participle" para dos acciones simultáneas
Cuando dos acciones ocurren al mismo tiempo y son realizadas por el mismo sujeto (persona o cosa), podemos emplear un "present participle" para describir una de ellas. Cuando una de las acciones sucede muy poco después de otra realizada por el mismo sujeto, podemos expresar la primera mediante el "present participle".
Ejemplos
- Whistling to himself, he walked down the road. = He whistled to himself as he walked down the road.
- They went laughing out into the snow. = They laughed as they went out into the snow.
- Dropping the gun, she put her hands in the air. = She dropped the gun and put her hands in the air.
- Putting on his coat, he left the house. = He put on his coat and left the house.
El "present participle" para explicar motivos
El "present participle" puede utilizarse en lugar de una frase introducida por "as", "since" o "because". En este uso la frase de participio explica la causa o la razón de una acción.
Ejemplos
- Feeling hungry, he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
- Being poor, he didn't spend much on clothes.
- Knowing that his mother was coming, he cleaned the flat.
- He whispered, thinking his brother was still asleep.