What do you say when...THE GREAT DIVE GRAMMER THREAD

[Kim]

I enjoy having to spell check over here, two years after coming over and it still picks up the "u"s that are included in my spelling and discards them, as well as many other terms. Its been quite a development in this language!!

Maybe they should change the name to Microlish!

 

[H2Andy]

Actually, "diving" is the gerund of the verb, so "diving" cannot be an irregular verb. "Dive" is a different story.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt....

"to dive" is what you mean... you know, the infinitive (what you should never split)

"to dive" is a verb; dive is a noun ("that was a nice dive")

grammar geeks of the world, UNITE!

 

[AzAtty]

Actually, I didn't write that "dive" was the verb. I just wrote that it was a "different story." Since a "different story" is a noun, and I wrote that "dive" is a different story, I did, in fact, identify "dive" as a noun. I just did it in a very creative fashion. So though you get an A+ for grammar, you get a D- for reading comprehension, syllogistic analysis, and creative writing.

You're right on the infinitive, of course. I intentionally misstated the infinitive form to see if anyone would catch it. :54:

Actually, when I started learning the Romance languages, I decided that the English infinitive was a silly thing, so I have rebelled. That's me--the grammatic revolutionary. Wanna see my angry manifesto with anti-participle rhetoric and slogans?

 

[SDAnderson]

The whole bunch of you are all dry. Dive that!

 

[H2Andy]

you're just jealous of our grammatical accumen and sagacity!

so there...

 

[The Wanderer]

Hi I'm a newbie and just learning.

What do you say when you have completed a dive?

Have you dived, dove or diven? Or something else?

:bogey:

 

[Walter]

Dived is preferred, but dove is acceptable. Check Webster's.

 

[Gary D.]

Hi I'm a newbie and just learning.

What do you say when you have completed a dive?

Have you dived, dove or diven? Or something else?

:bogey:

I'm drying off? :evilsmile

 

[glbirch]

Hi I'm a newbie and just learning.

What do you say when you have completed a dive?

Have you dived, dove or diven? Or something else?

:bogey:

I usually say "Good dive. What's for lunch?"

From the American Heratige Dictionary:

Either dove or dived is acceptable as the past tense of dive. Usage preferences show regional distribution, although both forms are heard throughout the United States. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, in the North, dove is more prevalent; in the South Midland, dived. Dived is actually the earlier form, and the emergence of dove may appear anomalous in light of the general tendencies of change in English verb forms. Old English had two classes of verbs: strong verbs, whose past tense was indicated by a change in their vowel (a process that survives in such present-day English verbs as drive/drove or fling/flung); and weak verbs, whose past was formed with a suffix related to –ed in Modern English (as in present-day English live/lived and move/moved). Since the Old English period, many verbs have changed from the strong pattern to the weak one; for example, the past tense of step, formerly stop, became stepped. Over the years, in fact, the weak pattern has become so prevalent that we use the term regular to refer to verbs that form their past tense by suffixation of –ed. However, there have occasionally been changes in the other direction: the past tense of wear, now wore, was once werede, and that of spit, now spat, was once spitede. The development of dove is an additional example of the small group of verbs that have swum against the historical tide.

From Marriam-Webster:

Dive, which was originally a weak verb, developed a past tense dove, probably by analogy with verbs like drive, drove. Dove exists in some British dialects and has become the standard past tense especially in speech in some parts of Canada. In the U.S. dived and dove are both widespread in speech as past tense and past participle, with dove less common than dived in the south Midland area, and dived less common than dove in the Northern and north Midland areas. In writing, the past tense dived is usual in British English and somewhat more common in American English. Dove seems relatively rare as a past participle in writing.

For what it's worth.

 

[vjongene]

to dive (v.), dived or dove, dived, diving (American Heritage Dictionary)
I dived OR dove yesterday (both correct)
I have dived often, NOT I have dove often.

OK, got that one off my chest...