Present Perfect: Active & Passive | Participle Adjectives | Advanced English Grammar

Hello and welcome everyone, this is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

The fact that the Past Participle is used in Perfect tenses, the Passive Voice,

and also sometimes as an adjective can be very confusing.

So, in this lesson we're going to review these three uses of the Past Participle form.

You can download the PDF version of this  lesson by joining Anglo-Link's PDF Library.

The link is in the description box.

So, let's start by looking at the active to passive formulation.

Remember that a key point is that we must respect the tense.

For example, if the active sentence is: Someone opens the window every day (Present Simple).

The passive is: The window is opened every day.

Present Simple for the verb 'to be'.

So, now let's change the tense of the active sentence to Present Perfect.

So, someone has opened the window.

What's the passive form?

The passive form is: The window has been opened.

The verb 'to be' is now in the Present Perfect tense, 'has been'.

Right! An action has taken place. What's the result of this action?

The result is that the window is now open. 'Open' is an ordinary adjective.

Right! Let's look at another example.

The active sentence is: I have booked our seats. What's the passive sentence?

The passive sentence is: Our seats have been booked.

And what's the result?

The result is that our seats are booked.

'Booked' is also an adjective. It describes what has happened to the seats.

But, it's not an ordinary adjective, it's a participle adjective.

Right! Let's look at another example.

The active sentence is: She has completed all the tasks. What's the passive sentence?

The passive form is: All the tasks have been completed.

So, what's the result?

The result is that all the tasks are complete or completed.

In this situation, you have a choice of the ordinary adjective 'complete', or the participle adjective 'completed'.

If you use the ordinary adjective 'complete', you're only describing the noun.

If you use the participle adjective 'completed',  you're showing that an action was carried out on the noun.

Right! Let's finish with two more examples to clarify the three uses of the past participle.

Look at the first context.

Something like: I empty the bin daily.

So, when someone asks you: Have you emptied the bin today? They're using 'empty' in the Present Perfect tense active.

You can answer: Yes, it has been emptied.

You're using 'emptied' in the passive voice of the same tense, Present Perfect.

Or, you can just describe the state of the bin: It's emptied.

You're using the Past Participle as an adjective here. A participle adjective.

But, because the ordinary adjective 'empty'  also exists, you can say: It is empty.

Right! Let's look at one final context to make this perfectly clear.

Let's say that you do the shopping every week.

So, when someone asks you: Have you done the shopping this week?

They're using 'done', the past participle, in the Present Perfect tense in the active form.

If you answer: Yes, it has been done. You're using 'done', the past participle, in the passive form of the Present Perfect tense.

Or, you can simply say: It is done.

Now, you're using 'done', the past participle, as a participle adjective.

And in this case, there is no ordinary adjective to describe the result.

Right! That's the end of  this lesson.

If you would like more information on the passive voice, you can watch this lesson.

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Thanks a lot for watching, and I'll see you soon in my next lesson.

Goodbye for now.