Has anyone addressed this before? The past participle of "swim" is "swum." "Swam" is the simple past. You can say, "I swam three times last week" or "I have swum in that pool many times," but you can never say "I have swam ..." It's simply not correct English.
Sorry to be persnickety, but as a former book editor, it drives me crazy every time I see it, and I see it increasingly more often now that I spend so much time here.:nono:
The one that gets me is when someone says "he dived". No he dove. What happened to using the past tense correctly?!
Welcome to the club! "He pleaded guilty" (pled), "He shined the light" (shone), "He lighted the fire" (lit), etc., etc.
Welcome to the club! "He pleaded guilty" (pled), "He shined the light" (shone), "He lighted the fire" (lit), etc., etc.
"The murderer was hanged." Oh, sorry, I guess that one's OK (right?).
Welcome to the club! "He pleaded guilty" (pled), "He shined the light" (shone), "He lighted the fire" (lit), etc., etc.
"The murderer was hanged." Oh, sorry, I guess that one's OK (right?).
I agree with all of these.
In my days of being a probation officer, the clerk of the court used to say "his license were suspended". Really? He had more than one license and all were suspended?!
"The murderer was hanged." Oh, sorry, I guess that one's OK (right?).
That's something they need to do more often...enough of this "lifetime w/out parole" B.S.
I don't know exactly why, but I think lots of people think "swum" is not a word. I guess it just seems a little ungainly.
My personal pet peeve is when people confuse the word "loose" for "lose."
I'd also like to point out that--according to the search function--cheakamus is the first person to use the word "persnickety" on these forums. It seems we've all been rather niggardly* in using persnickety here.
* Darn it. I should have known Jim Thornton would have already used "niggardly."
