Why can some past participles work in active voice while others cannot?

For example,

Punnishing the young child, he went red in the face.

Why can this not be active sense with past participle (I know this can work as passive, but I just want to know the reason why only some past participles can be in active)?

Punnished the young child, he went red in the face.

Thanks for your words

I think I understand your question. If not, let me know.

Active voice present particles pretty much always work, as long as the subject of the main clause also performs to action described in the participle.

Punishing the young child, he turned red in the face.
Wanting to see a Yankees’ game, John booked a flight to New York.
Enjoying the sight of fresh flowers, Linda went to the florist each week.

Active voice past participles generally require the perfect tense when the subject of the main clause also performs the acting of the participle.

Having punished the young child too severely, the father apologized.
Having seen a bear on his previous outing, the camper looked carefully in all directions.

Simple past particles seem to be naturally passive, because the subject of the main clause is the recipient of the action of the participle.

Caught by the tide, the swimmer began drifting out to sea.
Punished by the enemy for several years, the soldier was glad to be free.
Sighted by the rescue team, the hikers soon found themselves at a local hospital.

This is also consistent with the use of the past participle, along with the verb to be, as a way of forming the passive voice.

Obama was elected. John was promoted. Mary was taken prisoner.

Punnishing the young child, he went red in the face.

Punnished the young child, he went red in the face.

Active voice past participles generally require the perfect tense

Yes, but why is this? Why can’t think work?

He punnished ther child.

Punished the child, he…

I understand passive and active voice entirely, but I just don’t seem to be able to differentiate between the past and present participle, in every way. Sometimes they indicate different tense, and sometimes that do not. Present participle is always active, and past participles can be both. And I think that the tense of the participle is often indicated by the verb in the main clause, BUT not always….

Cheers

Punishing the young child, he went red in the face.

Punished the young child, he went red in the face.

The second sentence will not work. Without having punished (or punished by, which changes the meaning), it looks as if you’re starting the sentence with a conjugated verb.

I realise that it does not make sense. I’m asking why this particular verb (to punish) cannot be used as a participle in the active voice, whereas other verbs can be used as past participles in the active voice.

What makes some verbs able to do this, while making other verbs unable?

I think I’ve finally clearly asked what I’m trying to

Cheers

Give me an example of a sentence with a past participle used in active voice.

Hi, this is from another post from ACB, but it doesn’t explain why:

There are a few past participles (or past participle phrases) that can be used in an active-voice sense as adjectives preceding nouns, e.g. ‘aged’ (2 syllables), ‘collapsed’, ‘crashed’, ‘escaped’, ‘experienced’, ‘fallen’, ‘learned’ (2 syllables), ‘newly/recently arrived’, ‘the risen Christ’.  Most of these cannot be used in the active voice when separated from the noun by a comma, but a few can, e.g. “The former president, now fallen from power….”,  “Recently arrived from France, our guests were pleased to see us”.  But these are rare exceptions.

All past participles can, of course, be used in the active voice in compound tenses, preceded by the verb have.

By the way, I regard “focused on its prey” as passive; the tiger had been focused (had focused itself) on its prey.

The former president, now fallen from power.
Recently arrived from France, our guests were pleased to see us.

There seem to be a few verbs that can be past participles in active voice. I think it depends on how they are used and whether they make sense.

Named for his father, George, he was called Little George.
Recently voted most popular, Amy felt good about herself.
Counted among the best of its class, the Toyota Avalon gets 35 MPG.
Killed in action, the dead soldier lay in a pool of blood.