Практическая грамматика

§ 6. The voice distinctions of the participle. Participle I of transitive verbs has special forms to denote the Active and the Passive voice.
When reading a good book I do not like to be disturbed.
Being written in pencil the letter was difficult to make out.
Having written some letters he went to post them.
Having been written long ago the letter was illegible.
Participle II of transitive verbs has a passive meaning, e. g. a broken glass, a caged bird. Participle II of intransitive verbs has no passive meaning; it is used only in compound tense-forms and has no independent function in the sentence unless it belongs to a verb which denotes passing into a new state, e. g. a withered flower, a faded leaf, a grown up boy, a retired officer.
§ 7. The functions of Participle I in the sentence. Participle I may have different syntactic functions.
1. Participle I as an attribute.
Participle I Indefinite Active can be used as an attribute; in this function it corresponds to the Russian действительное причастие.
I reached for a cigarette with trembling hands, and lit it.
Дрожащими руками я потянулся за сигаретой и зажег ее.
We admired the stars twinkling in the sky.
Мы любовались звездами, мерцавшими на небе.
In some cases Participle I in the function of an attribute is rendered in Russian by an attributive clause.
They stumbled on the snow turning to icy water.
Они оступились на снегу, который превращался в ледяную воду.
In the function of an attribute Participle I can be in pre-position and in post-position, i. e. it can precede the noun it modifies and follow it.
Participle I Indefinite Passive is very seldom used as an attribute.
There was one line being laid out to within a few blocks of his new home... which interested him greatly. (Dreiser)
Его очень интересовала линия, которую прокладывали в нескольких кварталах от его нового дома.
Participle I Perfect Active and Passive is not used attributively. The Russian действительное причастие прошедшего времени expressing priority (in the function of an attribute) is rendered in English by an attributive clause.
Татьяна, с великим равнодушием переносившая до того мгновения все превратности своей жизни, тут, однако, не вытерпела, прослезилась. (Тургенев)
Tatyana, who had until that moment borne all the ups and downs of her life with great indifference, broke down, however, on this and burst into tears.
Бульба повел сыновей своих в светлицу, откуда проворно выбежали две красивые девки-прислужницы, прибиравшие комнату. (Гоголь)
Bulba bade his sons follow him into the little guest-chamber, whence two pretty serving-wenches, who had been arranging the room, ran out.
In many cases an attribute expressed by Participle I is detached, i. e. it acquires a certain independence in the sentence; the connection between the attribute and the word it modifies is loose. A detached attribute is usually separated by a comma.
It was the entrance to a large family vault, extending under the north aisle. (Hardy)
Это был вход в большой фамильный склеп, простиравшийся под северным приделом храма.
2. Participle I as an adverbial modifier.
All the forms of Participle I may be used as an adverbial modifier. Participle I Indefinite expresses an action simultaneous with the action expressed by the finite verb and corresponds to the Russian деепричастие несовершенного вида; Participle I Perfect expresses an action prior to the action expressed by the finite verb and corresponds to the Russian деепричастие совершенного вида. In some cases Participle I in the function of an adverbial modifier is rendered in Russian by an adverbial clause. Participle I can be an adverbial modifier:
a) of time.
I know we shall break our necks one night walking across the field.
Я знаю, однажды ночью мы свернем себе шею, шагая через это поле.