“Teacher, I am very exhausting today.”
I looked up from my desk to see Maria standing there, clearly tired. She meant exhausted, of course. We’d been over this. Multiple times. I’d explained participial adjectives, shown examples, done the whole “boring vs bored” demonstration. She got it… in that moment.
But understanding participial adjectives in isolation is one thing. Identifying and using them in real sentences? That’s where students get stuck. They want a system, some way to figure out when these -ing and -ed words are verbs and when they’re adjectives. And hey, I get it. I mean, I can spot them instantly, but explaining HOW I know? That took some figuring out when I first had to teach them.
So I’m going to share two tests your students can use to identify participial adjectives. Fair warning…neither of these tests are perfect. They both have limitations and can give false results if you’re not careful. But they’re better than nothing, and more importantly, they give students a concrete method instead of just telling them to “feel it out.”
What are participial adjectives?
Quick review: Participial adjectives are adjectives wearing a participle disguise. There are two kinds, present participles and past participles. Just like regular adjectives, they can modify nouns and pronouns.
Amazed, annoying, confused, depressing, embarrassed, exciting, insulted, moving, and pleased can all be used as adjectives or verbs. Depending on how they show up in a sentence, they’re either participial adjectives or verbs.
Now, let’s get to those tests.
Two Tests for Participial Adjectives
Test #1: The Gradeability Test
Try adding “very” in front of a present participle and see if the sentence still makes sense and has the same meaning. If it can, you probably have a participial adjective.
For example:
- They gave shocking news.
- They gave very shocking news.
It makes sense with “very” and hasn’t changed the meaning. PASS! It’s a participial adjective.
The gradeability test is pretty reliable with present participles. But with past participles? That’s where things get a bit more complicated. The gradeability test is not reliable with the past participle because “very” can sometimes be used in both constructions. Consider the following:
- She laughed at his (very) shocked expression. PASS! We can use “very” to increase the degree of how shocked his expression was.
- The events (very) inspired the citizens. FAIL! “Very” cannot be used to modify a verb.
- I was (very) astonished. PASS! Here we have increased the degree of astonishment.
- I was (very) astonished by the results. FALSE PASS!
That last one trips up students all the time. We have increased the degree of astonishment, but notice the voice of the sentence. In “I was astonished,” we have no by-phrase. That leaves the be verb as a linking verb. However, in “I was astonished by the results,” the by-phrase indicates that this is a passive voice sentence. When we switch it to active – “The results astonished me” – we can no longer add “very.”
So when you’re using the gradeability test with past participles, instruct your students to use it on active voice sentences only to avoid this false pass. Or…they could also change the voice from passive to active and then conduct the test.
Test #2: The Changing Form Test
Now, this test is really for sentences where the participle comes after ‘is,’ ‘was,’ ‘seems,’ or other linking verbs. When you see ‘the boring movie’ or ‘the confusing instructions,’ you already know those are participial adjectives because they’re right before the noun. But ‘The movie is boring’? That’s where students get stuck, and that’s where this test helps.
If you’re working with the -ing form, drop that -ing to see if you can make it simple past, present, or future. If it isn’t a complete thought, without adding any words, you have a participial adjective.
Take a look at the sentence “The job is demanding.” Change “demanding” to a form that isn’t progressive, and you are left with “The job demanded/demands/will demand.” None of those make a full sentence. “The job demanded” is not a complete thought because it requires a direct object. This shows that the word “demanding” in the original sentence is functioning as a participial adjective.
Now look at “The job is ending.” Change “ending” to a form that is not progressive.
“The job ended.”
“The job ends.”
“The job will end.”
You still have a full sentence, so the word “ending” in “The job is ending” functions as a verb. It is NOT a participial adjective.
My student Haidar loved this test because it gave him something concrete to do. He’d sit there muttering different verb forms under his breath, testing each one. Did it work every time? If he used it on the right kind of sentence, yes.
Are these tests useful?
The gradeability test handles both present and past participles (just watch out for that passive voice issue with past participles). The changing form test is really just for -ing words, so it’s more of an alternative if students find it easier to work with than adding “very.”
As to whether or not these tests are useful, I’ll quote the conclusion one of my students made: “They’re better than nothing.” That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but my students have also later reported that the tests have helped. Soo-jin told me a few weeks after learning these that she’d been using them on her homework and “finally stopped confusing everything.” I’ll take that win.
The Bottom Line
These two tests aren’t perfect, and they require some practice to use effectively. But they give your students something to work with instead of just hoping they’ll somehow sense the difference. Use the gradeability test for most situations and pull out the changing form test if your students find it easier for -ing words.
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
If you need some ready-to-go participial adjective resources to use with your adult ESL students, the following are available in my TpT store:
grammar guide with worksheets . . . | | | . . . task cards . . . | | | . . . linguistic investigation
