Past vs Past Participle
Past and Past participle are two grammatical forms that show difference between them in usage. Past is sometimes referred to as simple past as in the sentences
1. I gave a book to Francis.
2. He looked at her friend.
In both the sentences given above, simple past tense is used. Past tense indicates the completed nature of an action. In the first sentence, the action of giving is completed when somebody said ‘I gave a book to Francis’. The action took place some time ago. In the second sentence, you can see that the action of looking was over when somebody said ‘He looked at her friend’. The action of looking took place some time ago.
On the other hand, past participle is a grammatical form of a verb when past perfect tense is used. Observe the sentences:
1. I sing a song daily.
2. He sang a song last night.
3. He had sung a song that day.
In the first sentence, present tense is used and the verb in the present tense form is used. In the second sentence, past tense is used and the verb in the past tense form ‘sang’ is used. In the third sentence, past perfect tense is used and the verb in the past perfect tense ‘sung’ is used. In other words, the form ‘sung’ is the past participle form of the verb ‘sing’. This is the difference between the past tense and the past participle.
Let us see another example of the verb ‘drink’ in the following sentences:
1. He drinks milk every day.
2. She drank the lemonade.
3. She had drunk the milk mixed with honey.
In the sentences mentioned above, the second sentence has the application of past tense in the verb ‘drank’, whereas the third sentence has the application of past participle form of ‘drink’, namely, ‘drunk’.
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