Present and Past Participle

We can use ing and ed forms: combined with other words to make participle clauses.

-Because I didn´t know where sha was, I rang her on the cell phone

Not knowing where sha was, I rang her on the cell phone

Aferter nouns to make reduced relative clauses

-Can you see the man who is sitting on the bench?

Can you see the man sitting on the bench

After conjunctions and prepositions

-When traveling, I like to take a diary with me

After eating dinner, I like to take a long bath
Participles have three functions in sentences. They can be components of multipart verbs, or they can function as adjectives or nouns.

Participles in Multipart Verbs

A verb can have as many as four parts. When you form multipart verbs, you use a combination of auxiliary verbs and participles. Look at the examples below:

Our pet alligator ate Mrs. Olsen's poodle.

Ate = simple past tense [no participle].

With a broom, Mrs. Olsen was beating our alligator over the head in an attempt to retrieve her poodle.

Was = auxiliary verb; beating = present participle.

Our pet alligator has been stalking neighborhood pets because my brother Billy forgets to feed the poor reptile.

Has = auxiliary verb; been = past participle; stalking = present participle.

Our pet alligator should have been eating Gator Chow, crunchy nuggets that Billy leaves for him in a bowl.

Should, have = auxiliary verbs; been = past participle; eating = present participle.

Participles as Adjectives

Past and present participles often function as adjectives  that describe nouns. 

example

The crying baby drew a long breath and sucked in a spider crouching in the corner of the crib.