Verbs

“… you will not feel any air being blowned …”

Common English Blunders, Outsider's Perspective, Verbs

I saw this on a website this morning.

Problem:
The past participle is a nonsense word.

Explanation:
I was researching which way a ceiling fan should turn in the winter versus the summer when I discovered this.

The full sentence was “In the winter, you will not feel any air being blowned to you since it will be pulled up to the ceiling.”

Admittedly, seeing the past participle of the verb “blow” as B-L-O-W-N-E-D is essentially humorous, but there is instructional value in discussing this blunder.

The verb “blow” has these basic forms:

  • Blow — present simple, as in “The fan at top speed can blow the dust away.”
  • Blew — preterite, as in “He blew up the balloon.”
  • Blown — past participle, as in “She has blown it out of proportion.”
  • Blowing — present continuous, as in “The wind is not blowing.”

A common English blunder for young children and for those who are learning English as a second language is to write or say “blowed” — spelled B-L-O-W-E-D — as the preterite or past participle of the verb “blow”.

In other words, the blunder is to add E-D to the present simple form because many preterites and past participles are formed in this way. For example, the verb “form” has “formed” — spelled F-O-R-M-E-D — as its preterite and as its past participle.

Here are examples of use of the nonsense word “blowed”:

  • As a preterite:
    • “He blowed up at her.”
    • “The wind blowed last night!”
  • As a past participle:
    • “She has blowed her chances.”
    • “If you guys had not blowed the money in Atlantic City, you would not be begging me for a loan today.”

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (without the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “blew” — 19,800,000 matches
  • “blown” — 33,100,000 matches
  • “blowed” — 541,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the correct “blew” or the correct “blown” versus the incorrect “blowed” by a ratio of 36.6-to-1 or 61.1-to-1, respectively, each of which is very good, but over a half million instances of “blowed” is nothing about which to brag.

Another blunder is to say or write “blown” as the preterite of the verb “blow”, as in “He blown it.”

I had never heard or seen the word “blowned” until today. I suppose that it would be reasonable to add E-D to the end of B-L-O-W-N, if someone believed that “blown” were the preterite — because some past participles are formed in this way.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (without the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “blown” — 33,100,000 matches
  • “blowned” — 86,400 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the correct “blown” versus the incorrect “blowned” by a ratio of 383-to-1, which is superb.

Solution:
“… you will not feel any air being blown …”

“Bake” vs. “Roast”

Verbs, Versus

I thought about these two verbs the other day and wondered what the distinction was.

Problem:
Some people use these verbs interchangeably, but they are not quite synonyms.

Explanation:
Some say that roasting specifically applies to meat.

Others say that one can roast vegetables, too.

For example, some say that a roasted potato differs from a baked potato in that the roasted potato is cooked in an oven with liquids poured over it while the baked potato is cooked in an oven without such liquids.

I wondered whether this was the best distinction, so I read the definition of each verb in a dictionary.

The verb “roast” — when it comes to food — specifically means to bake uncovered, and the verb “roast” applies to both meat and other food.

In other words, to roast a potato is to bake it uncovered, usually in an oven.

Whether the potato is cooked with liquids is immaterial to whether it is roasted.

Solution:
Think of roasting as a special way of baking — that is, baking food uncovered.

“I feel bad.” vs. “I feel badly.”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs, Versus

I thought again about these two forms after hearing someone claim that only one of these was correct.

Problem:
The verb “feel” can take an adjective or an adverb.

Explanation:
The verb “feel” is a loaded verb in that it relates to a state of health or emotion as well as to the sense of touch.

The verb “feel” can be used as a linking verb, which is called a “copula” in linguistics.

A linking verb ties the subject of a sentence with the predicate of the sentence.

As described elsewhere, the verbs “be”, “become”, and “seem” are called true linking verbs because they can be nothing else.

Examples include:

  • “I am rich!”
  • “You became wealthy.”
  • “They seem nice.”

In contrast, each of the following verbs can act as an action verb or as a linking verb:

  • “appear”;
  • “feel”;
  • “grow”
  • “look”;
  • “prove”;
  • “remain”;
  • “smell”;
  • “sound”;
  • “taste”;
  • “turn”.

Here are examples of these verbs used as action verbs, each of which can be modified by one or more adverbs:

  • “She effortlessly appeared from the bushes.”
  • “He barely feels that tack in the carpet.”
  • “Mary often grows hibiscus plants.”
  • “Look now at that cow crossing the road!”
  • “Can you quickly prove this theorem?”
  • “I can remain here.”
  • “Everyone should always smell the flowers.”
  • “Paul Revere urgently sounded the alarm.”
  • “Can they barely taste the ginger in that dessert?”
  • “Please slowly turn the car to the right at the next light.”

Here are examples of the same verbs used as linking verbs, each of which is followed by an adjective:

  • “She appears ill.”
  • “He feels odd.”
  • “Mary grows angry when she sees her hibiscus flowers destroyed.”
  • “Darling, you look marvelous!”
  • “Purchase of Manhattan proved inexpensive.”
  • “The dishes remain dirty.”
  • “You smell delightful.”
  • “His argument sounds correct.”
  • “This dessert tastes delicious.”
  • “His face turns red when you embarrass him.”

Solution:
Use “I feel bad.” to describe the current state of your emotions or health. Use “I feel badly.” to describe your ability to feel with your sensory neurons.