Improving Written Communication: Debugging the "-ed" Bug

1. Improving Written Communication: Debugging the "-ed" Bug Ted E. Johnston & Joe Old English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

2. “-ed” Introduction • Just as a moth chews up wool or a termite wood, the “-ed” bug chews up the regular verbs in your writing by destroying “-ed” endings. • You need to recognize this writing pest and learn how to “de-bug” your writing so the “-ed” bug won’t irritate or confuse your reader. • This presentation will discuss the answers to the following questions about the “-ed” bug: walked English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

3. Topics to be covered • How does the “-ed” ending function in the English verb tense system? • Where does the “-ed” bug do its damage? • What are the effects of the “-ed” bug on the reader? • What causes the “-ed” bug to infest your writing? English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

4. 1.1 The Function of the “-ed” Ending on Regular Verbs A. The English verb system, like the Spanish, has tense. Tense refers to changes in the verb to reflect changes in time. The “-ed” ending is used with the simple past tense. • Present: The baby cries. • Past: The baby cried. • Future: The baby will cry. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

5. 1.2 The Function of the “-ed” Ending on Regular Verbs B. Some tenses also allow us to sequence time. The “-ed” ending is used to form the perfect tenses in verb phrases that begin with “has,” “have,” or “had.” • Present perfect (earlier than something in the present): He has already arrived and is waiting upstairs. • Past perfect (further in the past than something else also in the past): He had already arrived and was waiting upstairs. • Future perfect (nearer future than something else also in the future): He will have already arrived and will be waiting upstairs. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

6. 1.3 The Function of the “-ed” Ending on Regular Verbs C. Regular verbs ending in “-ed” also can end verb phrases preceded by a modal (“will,” “would,” “shall,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “ought to,” and “must”) and “have.” • We wouldhavereceived a letter before now. • The detective mighthavetraced the call. • The doctor shouldhavecalled earlier. • The children musthavelearned something. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

7. 1 .4 The Function of the “-ed” Ending on Regular Verbs D. Regular-verb phrases in the passive voice also end with an “-ed” verb form (and the phrase contains at least one helper from “to be”). The subject of a passive sentence receives rather than performs the action of the verb. • The gift wasn’t properly wrapped. • He should have beenfired sooner. • The mural has beencompleted at last. • The rugs will beruined by the rain. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

8. “-ed” 2.1 Damage Done by the “-ed” Bug A. Although the “-ed” ending is very important in forming certain tenses for regular verbs, sometimes students fail to include it for reasons we will discuss shortly. How can these sentences be debugged? Bugged: The baby cry all night. -ed –ed -ed Bugged: He hadfinish the job by the time I got there. Bugged: The concert wascancel because of rain. Bugged: The boy should havelisten to his mother. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

9. 2.2 Damage Done by the “-ed” Bug B. We call the problem seen above “the ‘-ed’ bug.” Here are the correct sentences after debugging: Debugged: The baby cried all night. Debugged: He had finished the job by the time I got there. Debugged: The concert wascanceled because of rain. Debugged: The boy should havelistened to his mother. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

10. 3.1 The Effects of the“-ed” Bug on the Reader A. As with any bug considered a pest, the “-ed” bug is an undesirable irritant. It gives knowledgeable readers the impression that the writer is careless or has weak English: • Bugged: The lady ask me too many questions. • Bugged: The boys watch movies yesterday. • Debugged: The lady asked me too many questions. • Debugged: The boys watched movies yesterday. Here is another example of such an error: • Form error (bugged): I work hard back when I live on a ranch. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

11. “-ed” 3.2 The Effects of the “-ed” Bug on the Reader -ed -ed -ed B. In extreme cases, the “-ed” bug can be more than just an irritant. It can even affect meaning. What if we removed “back” from the above sentence? • Form and meaning error (bugged): I work hard when I live on a ranch. • This sentence could make the reader think that writer still lives on a ranch! When? English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

12. 3.3 The Effects of the “-ed” Bug on the Reader However, if the writer means he used to live on ranch, but doesn’t live there anymore, he must reverse the effects of the “-ed” bug so the grammar and the meaning are in harmony: • Debugged: I worked hard back when I lived on a ranch. [Form error fixed] • Debugged: I worked hard when I lived on a ranch. [Form and meaning error fixed] English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

13. 3.4 The Effects of the “-ed” Bug on the Reader C. When grammar and meaning are not in harmony because of the “-ed” bug, it upsets educated readers of English as much the following sentence would upset educated readers of Spanish: • Error: Trabajo duro en aquel entonces cuando vivo en un rancho. [The meaning is clear, but the bad grammar makes the reader focus on the error, not the idea.] • Correct: Trabajaba duro en aquel entonces cuando vivía en un rancho. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

14. 4.1 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug A. The “-ed” bug infests writing because of something called “sound reduction.” “Sound reduction” affects unemphasized terminal and initial sounds in rapid speech and causes words to combine or be shortened. Contractions are one type of “sound reduction” (underlined below): • The dogs’re barkin’ outside. [ARE BARKING] • I’m readin’ the newspaper. [AM READING] • The boys wanna see that movie. [WANT TO] • We gotta go and we’regonna go. [We HAVE (this word totally disappeared!) got TO go and we AREgoING TO go.] English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

15. 4.2 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug B.Except occasionally for contractions, spelling words to reflect oral sound reductions is not allowed in academic writing! C. The “-ed” ending is an unemphasized terminal sound that is barely enunciated: • NOT: We orderED the pizza for later. • BUT: We ORdered the pizza for later. D. The writing of students who are primarily “oral” is written to reflect what they hear. Because the “-ed” sound isn’t clearly enunciated in rapid speech, the student might write: • Bugged: We order the pizza for later. • Debugged: We ordered the pizza for later. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

16. “-ed” 4.3 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug E. Many students, including native speakers, are bothered by the “-ed” bug in their writing in contexts in which “-ed” is back-to-back with a T, D, or Th sound. In rapid speech, the two sounds blend into one. Can you de-bug these errors? • Bugged: We weresupposeto help them. • Bugged: Tom hasfinishtalking. -ed -ed -ed • Bugged: We useto go to school there. • Bugged: The coach showthe boys how the ball should be kickdown the field. • Bugged: My mother sewthe button on my shirt. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

17. 4.4 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug • Debugged: We weresupposed to help them. • Debugged: Tom hasfinished talking. • Debugged: We used to go to school there. • Debugged: The coach showed the boys how the ball should be kickeddown the field. • Debugged: My mother sewed the button on my shirt. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

18. 4.5 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug F. Speakers of Spanish or other languages often don’t hear the “-ed” ending in other contexts because their ears may not be accustomed to subtle differences in sounds or because they don’t know what verb forms to use in complex verb phrases. • Bugged: We walk four miles this morning. • Debugged: We walked four miles this morning. • Bugged: I borrow his book yesterday and return it today. • Debugged: I borrowed his book yesterday and then returned it today. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

19. “-ed” 4.6 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug -d -t -d -t G.In the writing of students who have limited knowledge of English verbs or who have poor pronunciation, a variation of the “-ed” bug can also invade irregular verbs that end in “-d” or “-t.” Can you de-bug these verbs? • Bugged: He hear the bad news this morning. • Bugged: Lucy has already pay the bill. • Bugged: We sweep the floor before the party. • Bugged: The letter wassend yesterday. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

20. 4.7 The Causes of the “-ed” Bug • Debugged: He heard the bad news this morning. • Debugged: Lucy has already paid the bill. • Debugged: We swept the floor before the party. • Debugged: The letter wassent yesterday. Students with this problem may have a serious fluency issue and are advised to do a more formal review of the various aspects of the verb phrase formation, as indicated in the “Advice” at the end of this presentation. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

21. “-ed” Summary and Advice Summary Activity 1: -ed -ed -ed Repair the damage done by the “-ed” bug below: • Past tense: The company hire Alan this morning. • Present perfect tense: In fact, the company hashire three new employees this week. • Past perfect tense: The company had also hire several new employees last week. • Future perfect tense: The company will havehire three more employees by the end of next week. • Passive voice: Alan washire this morning. • Modal verb phrase: The company should havehire Alan a long time ago. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

22. Summary and Advice Summary Activity 1 continued Because he English regular verb system relies extensively on “-ed” endings for the various tenses, you must not let the “-ed” bug eat them up! Below, the “ed” bug has been debugged: • Past tense: The company hired Alan this morning. • Present perfect tense: In fact, the company hashired three new employees this week. • Past perfect tense: The company had also hired several new employees last week. • Future perfect tense: The company will havehired three more employees by the end of next week. • Passive voice: Alan washired this morning. • Modal verb phrase: The company should havehired Alan long ago. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

23. “-ed” Summary and Advice Summary Activity 2: Debug these verbs that have been infected by the “-ed” bug. (Here you must find the verb or verb phrase on your own.) • Past: She order two pizzas to go. -ed -ed -ed • Present perfect: My sister has finally graduate from college. • Past perfect: We had often notice that before. • Future perfect: The boys will have finish the project by then. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

24. “-ed” Summary and Advice Summary Activity 2 continued -ed -ed -ed • Passive: The dog was frighten by all the noise. • Modal construction: She would have talk to him if he had ask her for help. • Modal construction: The students ought to have ask for the principal’s permission before they leave. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

25. Summary and Advice Summary Activity 2 continued: The “-ed” BugDebugged! • Past: She ordered two pizzas to go. • Present perfect: My sister has finally graduated from college. • Past perfect: We had often noticed that before. • Future perfect: The boys will havefinished the project by then. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

26. Summary and Advice Summary Activity 2 continued: The “-ed” BugDebugged! • Passive: The dog was frightened by all the noise. • Modal construction: She would have talked to him if he had asked her for help. • Modal construction: The students ought to have asked for the principal’s permission first before they left. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

27. Summary and Advice SUMMARY continued As seen in the above examples, writing infested with the “-ed” bug is annoying. Sometimes, the reader’s understanding of the writer’s intended meaning may even be jeopardized. • The company regularly hire new employees. Does this sentence mean “The company regularly hires new employees” or the “The company regularly hired new employees”? If you were looking for a job, the difference in meaning could be important. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

28. Summary and Advice SUMMARY continued • This “-ed” bug occurs in the writing of students who are more comfortable in oral rather than written communication, including the writing of native speakers of English. • Such students write what they hear, and since sound reduction of unemphasized sounds is common in rapid speech, the “-ed” ending is often not enunciated or not heard, and consequently not written. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

29. Summary and Advice SUMMARY continued • The “-ed” bug occurs more frequently in the writing of second language speakers for two additional reasons: • Their ears are less likely to hear subtle differences in sound, and they also may not pronounce certain sounds. • They may have an incomplete understanding of English verb phrase formation. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

30. Summary and Advice ADVICE • When revising their papers, students with a minor “-ed” bug problem should slowly read their writing out loud so that they can detect any “-ed” sounds that they may have omitted in their writing. • This technique may not initially be as effective for students with a more serious problem, especially second language students who don’t enunciate or recognize subtle sound differences or who are uncertain about English verb phrase formation. • Students who occasionally have problems with the “-ed” bug should study Va-1a in the handbook and do Exercises 4.2, 16.6, and 16.8 in the workbook. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

31. Summary and Advice ADVICE continued • Students with a more serious problem may need to do the following before doing the above: • Review the verb-tense system in Vt-1a and 1b in the handbook, review irregular and regular verb differences in Vt-3, and do Exercises 1.3-1.7 in the workbook. • Review modal verb phrase construction in Vh-2a in the handbook and do Exercises 2.2, 2.3, and 2-Edit 1. • Review passive verb constructions in Vm-1 in the handbook and do Exercise 3.2 in the workbook. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)

32. Summary and Advice ADVICE continued • Another aspect of oral language is that the present tense is often used colloquially to discuss past events (“So I get ready to go, but then I miss my bus” instead of “So I got ready to go, but then I missed my bus”). Some missing “-ed” endings, then, may not be based on the “-ed” bug, but on this phenomenon. • If you think this may be part of your problem, study Vt-2a and 2c in the handbook and do Exercise 1.2 in the workbook. English Beyond the Basics (2nd ed.)