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Pedants' corner

Past tense of 'text' and 'bias'

18 replies

robotsmania · 19/09/2017 21:38

This is really starting to annoy me but I see it 99.9% of the time so I am now questioning whether I'm actually wrong.

Surely you should say: 'I texted her last night' NOT 'I text her last night'

Likewise: 'The newspaper article was biased'. NOT 'The newspaper article was bias'.

I'm pretty sure I'm right- but why does everyone get it wrong- is it simply that they can't easily hear the difference when they speak so the don't write it down???

OP posts:
Zampa · 19/09/2017 21:41

"Biased", definitely.

I don't think text is a verb though so would say, "I sent her a text last night".

DadDadDad · 20/09/2017 15:15

Text is a verb and surely it has been for quite a while now. Why say "I sent a text" when "I texted" is less verbose?

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 20/09/2017 15:15

Texted
Biased

Trills · 20/09/2017 15:17

Biased in that sense is an adjective not a verb.

I could still be talking in the present tense and say "the article IS biased".

Trills · 20/09/2017 15:19

I would say "texted", but since "to text" is a newish verb it has not yet settled down enough for there to be a definite correct answer.

PointlessUsername · 20/09/2017 15:24

Biased.

Text. It feels very wrong saying texted imo.

EBearhug · 20/09/2017 15:26

Texted
Biased

New words tend to follow stadard patterns - it's usually really old words which are irregular (is "to be" regular in any European language?)

But things we might consider wrong do gain ground. Look at how often we see "could of", for example.

Trills · 20/09/2017 15:31

I agree that texted is more regular, and it feels like it makes more sense. But it's not yet fixed enough to make a big deal out of someone saying "I text her".

BeatriceBeaudelaire · 20/09/2017 15:31

I'd say texted and biased yes

BeatriceBeaudelaire · 20/09/2017 15:32

But it could also be 'that newspaper is biased' ... rather than there is a bias in the reporting of that news

PerfumeIsAMessage · 20/09/2017 15:34

You're correct, OP because all "new" verbs, like "text" are regular in the past tense.

You won't find many who argue with you here in PC, a grammar rule, is, after all, a grammar rule, (and historically, language develops from irregular-regular anyway, not the other way round) but over in other areas of MN you'll have people arguing till the cows come home that "I text him yesterday" is fine. Wink

DadDadDad · 20/09/2017 15:39

But maybe this will be an interesting case, where a new verb develops an irregular past tense! I think it's unlikely, but some people talk about "texted" being awkward to say and preferring "text" for the past tense, so it might win out.

Trills · 20/09/2017 15:50

As SMS becomes less common and people use messaging apps more, maybe "to text" will dwindle in use and people will be saying "I messaged her".

PerfumeIsAMessage · 20/09/2017 15:53

Hopefully Trills!

robotsmania · 23/09/2017 00:03

Thanks for the replies- I would definitely say to text should be a regular verb - and it is more down to people just writing as they speak when they write 'I text her yesterday'.

On a related note over new verbs being regular and older verbs being irregular- isn't that why we say 'he was hanged' versus 'I hung out the washing' because to hang someone to kill them was a newer use of the verb?

OP posts:
hesterton · 23/09/2017 00:13

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hesterton · 23/09/2017 00:14

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hesterton · 23/09/2017 00:16

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