Word of the Day

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

have forbade

I learned that the past participle of forbid is forbidden (and sometimes forbid) and that is what most websites on the English language tell you, but I've found an instance of forbade as a past participle in an article about swearing by Steven Pinker that caught my eyes:

Cultural conservatives were outraged (that the Federal Communications Commission hadn't sanctioned NBC for not bleeping out the word fucking pronounced by Bono on the Golden Globe Awards). California Representatives Doug Ose tried to close the loophole in the FCC's regulations with the filthies piece of legislation ever considered by Congress. Had it passed, the Clean Airwaves Act would have forbade from broadcast (and he reels off a string of words...)

None of my references tell me that usage is okay (and sounds odd to me) but examples on Google abound by the thousands, but Google itself recommends you try have forbid, has forbid and had forbid when you key in have forbade, has forbade and had forbade, respectively, suggesting it is a misspelling. Have/has/had forbidden still is the victor, though, and I hope it goes on like this for many decades to come.

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