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Section 11.4.2.1

Active Participial Adjectives

Active participial adjectives are formed from the present participles of verbs. They describe nouns that are actively causing or participating in an action.


In quantum mechanics, a tunnelling alpha particle is one that can escape the nucleus during radioactive decay.

--John Rigden, "J. Robert Oppenheimer: Before the War," Scientific American (modified)


You can also use an active participial adjective in place of a relative clause when the noun would otherwise be the subject of a simple relative clause.


When hybrids mate with pure gray wolves, the resulting offspring appear slightly more wolflike than their parents. [Alternatively: the offspring that result.]

--Robert K. Wayne and John Gittleman, "The Problematic Red Wolf," Scientific American (modified)


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