Either way, the word you’re pairing with “have,” “has” or “had” is a past participle.įor regular verbs, past participles are identical to simple past tense forms. But when the auxiliary is “had,” which is the past tense of “have,” it’s the past perfect: I had begun. When “have” is in the present and working as an auxiliary, the verb tense is called the present perfect: I have begun. Some words are hated because they’re associated with unpleasant things, while others are maligned because people think they’re used incorrectly. Opinion A Word, Please: ‘Moist’ and other words people don’t like But if you’d like to know how to choose stickler-approved past participles, here’s a primer. If you don’t want to accommodate my absurdly stringent standards, you don’t have to. People aren’t going to start using “lain” in casual conversation. People don’t say, “I have lain on the beach for an hour.” They say “laid.” According to leading dictionaries, “laid” is wrong in this context. “Dreamt” is as correct as “dreamed,” whether I like it or not.Įven when I’m right, it’s silly to care. It’s a waste of energy to expect people to use my preferred past participles, especially because most of the past forms that make me flinch aren’t wrong, exactly. It may have to do with the fact that I married someone from small-town Massachusetts, where everything is “I have ate this” and “I should’ve went to that” and “You could’ve brung your sister.” And every time I visit, I have to mute the little voice in my head that says, “It’s I have eaten this” and “I should have gone to that” and “You could’ve brought your sister.” I’m a little fussy about past participles.
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