Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande

Author:June Casagrande
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2008-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

I walked. I have walked.

He thought. He has thought.

They worked. They have worked.

But there are also “irregular verbs”—words you use all the time probably without even noticing the difference:

I rose. I have risen.

He chose. He has chosen.

They did it. They have done it.

As I said, this is pretty intuitive stuff for most of us, except the rare breed I hereby dub the Boston Mangler.

The Mangler has no use for irregular participles. The simple past-tense forms are enough for him.

He changes the correct “I should have gone” to the incorrect “I should have went.” “They should have beaten” in his hands becomes “They should have beat.” And the correct “I should have eaten” gets mangled into “I should have ate.”

But you need not fall victim to this habit. Take note of the common irregular participles shown in the table. These, not their simple past-tense cousins, are the ones to follow “have,” “has,” and “had.” When in doubt, just check your dictionary, which lists irregular forms under each main word. So right under “eat” you’ll see the simple past tense “ate,” followed by the participle “eaten.”

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