SIR: Which is correct, "I have never rode a horse" or "I have never ridden a horse."? Please explain. - C.B.
ANSWER: The first thing we need to determine is whether you ever did ride a horse. Otherwise, we might decide something is correct when it isn't at all.But let's assume you never did. In that case, you must say "I have never ridden a horse." That's because you shouldn't use the pres-ent tense (ride) or the past tense (rode) but the past participle (have ridden). If you were speaking in the present, you would say "I do not ride a horse," and if you were speaking in the past, you would say "I never rode a horse." But if you were speaking of time gone by, you would say, "I have never ridden a horse." And I hope all this talk hasn't given you saddle sores.
SIR: When did the verb "to prize" deteriorate into a synonym for "to pry"? I can understand "he prys the box open," and have often wondered whether the spoken word "prys" was heard as "prize." My dictionary says "to pry, as with a lever," is only an alternate meaning of the verb "prize." What is our poor abused language coming to? - Petrified Purist.
ANSWER: It's coming to good easy-going speech, that's what. Why should you object if anyone says "he prizes the box open" instead of "he prys the box open"? You don't have to, but give others the option.
After all, your dictionary should also have told you that prize, meaning to pry as with a lever, comes from the Middle English "prise,' "which refers to taking hold, and that your beloved "pry" is only a back-formation from "prize." You don't want to be known as what might be called a prize snob, do you?
TOUGH CHALLENGE of the week, from Shirley G.:
"My newspaper, in a story about the director of a day-care center, said she `cares for approximately 22 full- and part-time children.' Please explain what part-time children are."
- Send questions, comments, and good and bad examples to Lydel Sims, Watch Your Language, 366 S. Highland, Apt. 410, Memphis, TN Tenn. 38111. If you quote a book, please give author, title and page number.