Past Participle: (Not Another Name for Pasta)

By Alexander Ihenetu

In Past Participle author Alexander Ihenetu
advises us to pay as much attention to our
English grammar and usage as we pay to
our sciences and mathematics. After all,
he reasons, in professional and educated
society, the most respected and confident are
quite often impeccable with their English.
He goes on to identify factors that negatively
affect our English usage and they include:
the multicultural and multiethnic nature of
our society; the notion that grammar does not matter as long as people
understand you; the polluting influence of street language; social media
communication styles ; rap song and slang terminology; lack of preparation
in classic Latin( the root of many English words and phrases); too much
watching of television at the expense of passionate reading of novels,
magazines and newspapers. Moreover, passage through high school and
college is not always a guarantee of literacy and good writing skills.
The author expresses surprise at the pervasive lack of use of the past
participle tenses of English verbs in todays society. He therefore puts much
emphasis on their accurate use through error examples, corresponding
explanations and relevant corrections and remarks. Using seven hundred
examples, he exposes widely-used expressions and phrases that abuse the
basic rules of English grammar and syntax, including errors of redundancy,
double negatives, subject and verb disagreement, nonstandard, colloquial
and informal usage, incomplete, awkward and illogical sentences, wrong
applications and wrong concepts, wrong spellings, non-existent words
and so on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477108093

Alexander Ihenetu

Alex C. Ihenetu, a United States citizen, migrated several years ago from the Ibo tribe of Eastern Nigeria and lives with his family in the United States. He holds a BS in chemistry from Boston State College, a BS in pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and an MBA from Bryant College in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. He is a full-time staff pharmacist practicing in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an avid sports fan and loves to read and write poetry. He believes that the average college curriculum is so rich and rigorous in liberal arts education that a college graduate is equipped with enough English grammar skills to be proficient in the language. This may not always be the case. Alex has therefore chosen to address this issue in this book that reminds him of his high school English teacher and the teacher’s style of correction of English grammar papers. During Alex’s days in high school, English language proficiency was so important that without a pass in the subject, one could not qualify for a high school certificate from the Local Examinations Syndicate even if one scored (A)lphas in all other subjects, including vernacular languages. Reflecting on such colonial mentality and policy these days, however, Alex sees some injustice having been done to the vernacular culture of colonized nations despite the fact that a good foundation in English Language was helpful to their success in acquiring advanced western education.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Alexander Ihenetu.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2012908654

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4771-0808-6

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4771-0807-9

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-0809-3

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Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Grammatical Errors

Addendum

Tenses

Labels

About the Author

Dedication

To my wife, Barbara; my children—Ikechi, Nneka, Chidi, Uchechi, Chinonye; my late father, Joseph (Kingsway) Ihenetu, for investing wisely in his children’s education; my brothers; sisters; cousins; nieces ; nephews and my octogenarian mother, Christiana, to whom I devote this little piece.

Mother Christiana

Milk machine of nature

Obedient and loving wife

To thy fetal nurture

Hung my cord of life

East, west, north, and south

Round the world and back

Cry, cry a hungry mouth

Hand ready with a snack

Rain, sun, night, and day

Inspite of difficult times

She struggles, struggles all the way

To spend her last dimes

I think of what to do for Mother

And nothing is big enough

Nine billion kisses together

And blessing of Almighty thereof

—Alex C. Ihenetu, as published by the National Library of Poetry

Preface

Once in a while, there is concern about America lagging behind other leading industrialized nations in basic mathematics and sciences if certain measures are not taken. Such measures often ignore the more pervasive of these seeming deficiencies: the lack of proficiency in the English language.

Several factors have contributed to this apparent weakness in the use of the English language in the American society, and they include the following:

The multicultural and multiethnic nature of the American society is responsible for the many languages and dialects that over the years have struggled to adapt to the mainstream English language. Consequently, attention to grammar is among the least concerns of a non-English-speaking immigrant trying to blend into the new society.

Freedom of expression in a highly democratic society like ours is not restricted to ideas but could apply to the pragmatic use of language in any form to express those ideas. There is an apparent notion that as long as people understand what you say, it does not make any difference how good or bad your grammar is.

The influence of street language on English grammar has been polluting. There was a suggestion several years ago in one section of the country for the introduction of a blend of unofficial language in preference to, or coexisting with, standardized English. There is nothing wrong with the use of colloquial or broken English in informal settings and on the streets. The rules of educated society, however, demand that we do not sacrifice the official English language.

The digital age has led to laziness and disregard for the correct usage of the English language by some of today’s youth. Text messaging, Twitter, and rap language sometimes surface in conventional essay writing to the extent that some young people can hardly complete a paragraph of essay without grammatical and syntactical errors.

History has shown that the study of classical Latin, the root of modern English, prepares one for success in the learning of English. A lot of words used in legal and medical terminology have their origins in Latin. Words like ambidextrous, amphibious, ubiquitous, ambivalent, omnipotent, sublingual, and bilateral have their roots in Latin. However, Latin has long been abandoned as a dead language, and consequently, its benefits in the study of the English language diminished. I know of a sports analyst who often confuses amphibious with ambidextrous, which means using both left and right hands with equal ease.

The ability to read and write can vary with individuals and academic backgrounds. These days, passage through high school and college is not always a guarantee of literacy and good writing techniques. It is not a surprise, therefore, that some major companies, according to reports, spend extra resources retraining their staff on the use of English.

Too much watching of television at the expense of passionate reading has also affected the ability of some young people and grown-ups alike to acquire good grammar skills. Regular reading of novels, magazines, and newspapers has a way of enriching one’s vocabulary as well as command of the language.

Of all the errors of grammar I hear people make in our society today, the one that surprises me most is the lack of use of the past participle tense, particularly of irregular verbs—hence the title of this book. Quite often you hear some of our well-educated people on radio and television talk-shows, post-game interviews and a variety of social settings, carelessly use expressions like I could have went, what you should have did, I should have gave him, or we were blew away. I was punished in high school for making such errors in basic grammar. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gone as the past participle of go, while went is past tense for go. The past participle, however, seems to be an endangered species for many verbs in the American spoken and written English.

Despite the use of bad or poor grammar by a minority in the American society, America remains a country of laureates in English literature and one of the leading countries in journalistic and literary excellence. Some of the most eloquent speakers and most prolific writers of English in the world today are Americans.

There are probably as many examples of incorrect uses of the English grammar as there are speakers of English, but I have endeavored in the following most common and incorrect uses of the English language to correct them the way my high school English teacher would have corrected them. In some of the examples, attempts were made to distinguish between two meanings of homonyms and easily confused words and phrases. Included in these corrections are errors of tense; redundancy; nonstandard, colloquial, and informal usage; incomplete, awkward, and illogical sentences; double negatives; plural nouns and pronouns with singular verbs; misspellings; nonexistent words; wrong applications and concepts; and so on. Some of these errors may look ridiculously too basic but people make them all the time.

I have also included in these examples one or two of the errors of grammar that I have made over the years without even knowing it. For example, I had always used the words while and although interchangeably in a temporal sense. The two words, however, have different applications in different contexts.

Nobody is above grammatical errors. Errors are made by mistake, by a slip of the tongue, or by lack of knowledge. Bad grammar has often been likened to bad breath; your best friends will even be embarrassed to whisper it to you. The most embarrassing of grammatical errors are made on radio and television where g-bombs are just as distasteful and far-reaching as f-bombs.

It is my hope that this modest attempt will help many young