present participle and past participle

[dusrn11]

Hi.
Present particple can be used in past continuous tense.
Past participle can be used in present perfect tense.
Why do we use 'present participle' in expressing past continuous tense ?

[Mister Micawber]

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The participles do not have tense themselves-- they carry their names (unfortunately), based on one of their common uses. The tense depends on that of the auxiliary:

Present continuous (I am osculating)-- 'is' is present tense
Past continuous (I was osculating)-- 'was' is past tense.
Future continuous (I will be osculating)-- ('will be' is future 'tense')

As you can see, they all use the 'present participle', which is better called the '-ing form'.

Beware nomenclature; observe function.

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