44.11 Participial Adjectives

How do we know if a past participle is a verb or an adjective.

Past participle

Past participle adjective

The presence of a doer (-by agent) shows that the past participle is a verb:

When the past participle adjective appears before a noun:

He was disappointed by the news.

He is a disappointed young man.

The students are bored by the speech.

They are bored students.

She was terrified by the experience.

There is a terrified look on her face.

They were astonished by his behaviour.

The astonished parents were speechless.

When the past participle adjective appears before ‘that, to, of, when, with‘:

I was convinced by his explanation.

I was convinced that he was sincere.

I was shocked by his remark.

I was shocked to hear his remark.

I was frightened by the snake.

Are you frightened of snakes?

Everyone was shocked by the news.

I was shocked when I heard the news.

It is often used after the verb ‘be’ (am, is, are, was, were), look, seem, feel, become etc:

She is terrified.

She looks confused.

He seems bored.

I feel relaxed.

They become tired easily.