Verbs with a past tense already built in
Playing host this past Thanksgiving seems to have brought me out of the culinary rut I鈥檇 been in for longer than I want to admit. I鈥檝e been inventorying items from the remotest corners of my kitchen cabinets, and finding and trying new recipes 鈥� including for 鈥淩oasted Fingerling Potatoes with Fresh Herbs and Garlic.鈥�
Once these were in the oven, my grammatical curiosity took over: 鈥淲hy not simply 鈥榬oast鈥� potatoes?鈥� After all, Charles Lamb鈥檚 famous 1822 was 鈥淎 Dissertation Upon Roast听Pig,鈥� not roasted.
Roast is indisputably correct as an adjective, and roasted is likewise correct as the past tense (鈥渉e roasted鈥�) and past participle (鈥渟he had roasted鈥�) of the verb. So either form would have been correct in either of our two examples.
From my position as a lay observer, I note a tendency for words we use all the time to become irregular in their grammatical form. Take the plain old verb to be: Try to get through a day without it. But how does an English language learner cope with 鈥淚 am,鈥� 鈥測ou are,鈥� and 鈥渉e is,鈥� except by memorization?
Conversely, there is a tendency for words we use less frequently to become regularized. That means opting for the more regular-looking 鈥渆d鈥� form of roast. And that explains all the weather reports we鈥檝e been hearing this winter telling how much snow is 鈥渇orecasted鈥� for this weekend. The past of forecast, and the past participle, too, are simply forecast. This verb has its past tense built in.听
But quite a number of dictionaries recognize the 鈥渆d鈥� forms as variants, and these forms seem to be gaining ground. A of 鈥渇orecast鈥� versus 鈥渇orecasted鈥� doesn鈥檛 provide a fair comparison, because 鈥渇orecast鈥� has so many different uses, but forecasted is clearly on the rise. It glides along the bottom of the chart until about 1960, when the fever line rises like a levitating snake. The chart also shows forecast taking a notable dip in 1980, presumably as forecasted began to displace it.
Something similar may be going on with strive. It comes from French, and so it would normally be 鈥渞egular,鈥� with strived and strived as its past tense and past participle. Ah, but rhyming association with drive, a so-called strong verb (of Germanic origin, conjugated drove and driven), led to strove and striven becoming the standard forms, according to the .
More recently, though, the wind has shifted again. People are 鈥渞egularizing鈥� strive. (This may happen because the verb is used so disproportionately in the present: 鈥淲e strive every day.鈥�) But several dictionaries offer strived as an alternative to both strove and striven. Again, an provides an imperfect comparison, but it shows strived achieving liftoff from the baseline of the chart, even as striven shows a breathtakingly steep downward line. I wouldn鈥檛 want to ski down that slope.
And so how much snow is 鈥渇orecasted鈥� for this weekend? I鈥檓 not sure, but I鈥檒l check 鈥� after I finish off my 鈥渞oasted鈥� potatoes.
