verb, and partakes of the nature
of a verb, and also of an adjective.

Verbs have three participles, the present or imperfect, the perfect, and
the compound.

The _present_ or _imperfect_ participle denotes action or being
continued, but not perfected. It always ends in _ing_; as, _ruling,
being_: "I am _writing_ a letter."

The _perfect_ participle denotes action or being perfected or finished.
When derived from a regular verb, it ends in _ed_, and corresponds with
the imperfect tense; as, _ruled, smiled:_ "The letter is _written_."

The _compound_ participle implies action or being completed before the
time referred to. It is formed by placing _having_ before the perfect
participle; as, _having ruled, having been ruled: "Having written_ the
letter, he mailed it."

The term _Participle_ comes from the Latin word _participio_, which
signifies to _partake_: and this name is given to this part of speech,
because it _partakes_ of the nature of the verb and of the adjective.

By many writers, the participle is classed with the verb, and treated as
a part of it; but, as it has no nominative, partakes of the nature of an
adjective, requires many syntactical rules which apply not to the verb,
and, in some other respects, has properties peculiar to itself, it is
believed that its character is sufficiently distinct from the verb, to
entitle it to the rank of a separate part of speech. It is, in fact, the
connecting link between, not only the adjective and the verb, but also
the noun and the verb.

All participles are compound in their meaning and office. Like verbs,
they express action and being, and denote time; and, like adjectives,
they describe the nouns of which they denote the action or being. In the
sentences, The boatman is _crossing_ the river; I see a man _laboring_
in the field; Charles is _standing_; you perceive that the participles
_crossing_ and _laboring_ express the actions of the boatman and the
man, and _standing_ the state of being of Charles. In these respects,
then, they partake of the nature of verbs. You also notice, that they
_describe_ the several nouns associated with them, like describing
adjectives; and that, in this respect, they participate the properties
of adjectives. And, furthermore, you observe they denote actions which
are still going on; that is, _incomplete_ or _unfinished_ actions; for
which reason we call them _imperfect_ participles.

Perhaps I can illustrate their character mo