Grammar question

[Grgranny]

I keep hearing the words "woken up". I just think it's is wrong and should be something like "when I awakened". Are there any grammarians here? Our newscasters seem to be the guiltiest ones.

 

[Tonichelle]

isn't it "awoke" ?

I dunno, that wasn't one of the phrases that my journalism prof (nit picks EVERYTHING) beat out of our heads, so I'm not sure...

 

[Ladskater]

Ggranny, I will ask my husband. He is excellent at grammar and also at catching grammatical errors. This term does not sound correct to me either.

 

[dutchherder]

This one is sort of difficult, as there are several similar words with closely related meanings, and there are choices as to what past tense and past participle form one might want to use.

Okay, the verb wake:

This one means "to cease or cause to cease to sleep". It is often followed by the word up. The past tense is either "woke" or "waked," depending upon whatever floats your boat. The past participle is (has, have, had) "woken" or "waked". It doesn't matter which one you select.

There is also the verb awake:

This one means "to cease to sleep". Also, if followed by the word to, can mean "to become aware of". The past tense is awoke, and the past participle is (has, have, had) awoken.

So...long story short, these are all correct:

1. I had not yet woken up when the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol came to my door.
2. I had not yet waked up when the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol came to my door.
3. I had not yet awoken when the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol came to my door.

Hope this helps your grammar woes. It's that pesky past participle giving you fits.

Your resident high school English teacher,

Dutchherder

 

[Mathman]

But the cadence of number three rules all: "I had not yet awoken when Ed McMann called...."

 

[merrywidow]

I'm another who would say "awakened". The word that has been irritating me lately that I've heard several times on TV is "conversating". What ever happened to "conversing"?

 

[Mathman]

Do commentators "commentate" or do they "comment?"

 

[Spun Silver]

Awaked and awakened are also acceptable acc to (a) American Heritage Dic. online (for awaked) and (b) Dictionary.com citing Wordnet (for awakened).

It seems we can say just about anything we want with this word. Wow! I'm so glad you asked, Grgranny. It has always confused me too.

My favorite word to hate: orientate. It's so inelegant compared to orient.

I need to orient the new guy to the wacky ways of this office. :thumbsup:
I need to orientate the new guy to the wacky ways of this office. :disagree:

Plus, who would want to see a movie called The World of Peter Orientate?

 

[Mathman]

Here's another one. "Impact" as a verb, when you mean "affect."

"Recent changes in tariff regulations negatively impacted the Dow Jones Industrial Average." (What, the Dow is a molar?)

 

[iluvtodd]

Gee, I teach English as to Speakers of Other Languages (aka ESL) in elementary school, so grammar questions intrigue me. Nevertheless, I don't have the definitive answer for these. I use "woke" for the past tense of "wake" and the past participle "woken" with has/have/had.

 

[dutchherder]

"Conversate" is not a word, as I tell my students all the time. The proper word is "converse". They think that's a shoe, regardless of where the stressed syllable is.

"Commentate" and "comment" are both words, but only experts commentate.

"Orientate" and "orient" are both words, unfortunately.

Sorry, Mathman, but "impact" can be used in that sense, though I agree with you. Growing up in a house with a mother who was a nurse, I heard about impactions all the time-- and it didn't have anything to do with teeth. Imagine my mirth when I hear skating commentators say things like, "He doesn't appear to be letting the new skating boots impact him here in the free skate." Yuck!!!

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, I hate 'orientate' too. And in general adding -tate to a noun to create a fake verb.

I also dislike having -ation added to proper nouns to name a policy-which policy is seldom clearly defined. So often these sort of usages just obscure what is actually going on. And I think that's what they are meant to do.

The one that bothes me most lately is 'deBaathification'. I thought we had already deBaathified in Iraq; however, in the latest surge discussions, a need for more deBaathification has come up. I am not sure at all what is going on. Didn't we fire all the Baathists from the military and government back at the beginning of the Iraq occupation? If so, did we rehire some? Or is something else meant by deBaathification. In fact, since it is an invented word, I can't tell you what the policy indicated by DeBaathification is, and I would have appreciated not having a fake word put forward to obscure the policy.

The word 'Vietnamization' bothered me for the same reasons.

 

[Dee4707]

Do you think that grammer sometimes depends on where you live. For instance in our midwest, we say...........There is snow on the ruff, instead of roof. Also, that is such a pretty dowel, instead of pretty doll.

Just a thought, but then I just wakened up!!

Dee

 

[antmanb]

How about the more passive voice "I was woken up by sounds in the middle of the night" is that gramtically correct or shoudl it be "i was awoken by sounds in the middle of the night"?

Ant

 

[Mathman]

The proper word is "converse". They think that's a shoe, regardless of where the stressed syllable is.

:chorus:

Sorry, Mathman, but "impact" can be used in that sense, though I agree with you. Growing up in a house with a mother who was a nurse, I heard about impactions all the time-- and it didn't have anything to do with teeth. Imagine my mirth when I hear skating commentators say things like, "He doesn't appear to be letting the new skating boots impact him here in the free skate." Yuck!!!

I think "to impact" (meaning "to affect") is one of the governmentese (is that a word? LOL) words that was misused for so long that people eventually gave up and said OK, that's a word.

I believe that it was invented in the 1970s when concern for the environment became a hot political topic and everyone was scurrying around writing "Environmental Impact Statements" (so far so good) all about how the new proposed power plant would "impact" the environment ( :frown2: ).

The one that bothes me most lately is 'deBaathification'. I thought we had already deBaathified in Iraq; however, in the latest surge discussions, a need for more deBaathification has come up.

Well, I suppose Iraq can always become deBaathifieder. But isn't the point of the surge that we might have overdeBaathified and now we need to deShi'ite a little?

 

[dutchherder]

If you've been impacted by deBaathification, you most definitely need to deShi'ite. Messy business.

 

[Grgranny]

iluvtodd, my goodness, I forgot you were an ESL teacher. My daughter teaches ESL in Wichita. I should ask her. Once in a while, especially at Christmas time, we help her correct papers. They are usually about why they came to America, etc. They can be hilarious or heartbreaking.
Also, as one raised in Nebraska, I do say ruff but I say doll. Of course, there are lots of things we say differently. Down here they talk more like an Okie. So many had moved up here to work for Boeing that it's changed their southern accent a little more than it had been here before.

 

[iluvtodd]

iluvtodd, my goodness, I forgot you were an ESL teacher. My daughter teaches ESL in Wichita. I should ask her. Once in a while, especially at Christmas time, we help her correct papers. They are usually about why they came to America, etc. They can be hilarious or heartbreaking. than it had .

You're so right about those papers, Grgranny. &

I'm not a language purist by any means, but I constantly correct my ESL kids who keep saying "I got," instead of "I have." I'm also big on correcting double negatives.

 

[Grgranny]

I'm one of those that sometimes forgets and says I got. It's one of those midwestern things.
Also, a correction. I have no idea what was meant by the last few words on my post "than I had". Must have been late at night.

 

[SeaniBu]

I'm one of those that sometimes forgets and says I got. It's one of those midwestern things.
.

I wouldn't think twice about it, if you use the right words people will think you are trying to impress or just trying. If you use slang then there are judgments there too.
It is fine for people to say "me and ______" but we can't put prepositions at the end of sentences or use our geographic location sayings that people know what the meaning is anyway????

All you have to do is just keep saying what you want, and if people start saying it eventually they will change the "rules" so woop- it- tee doo!