Compound Verbs are Parallel

rogersgeorge on August 2nd, 2019

Well, compound verbs are supposed to be parallel. Meaning they have the same tense, person, and so on.

Here’s an example of not doing it:

Amanda the Great Comic Strip for June 01, 2019 — https://www.gocomics.com/amanda-the-great/2019/06/01

So this (last panel) is a compound verb: “We should have bought and gave.” (shudder)

Gave??? Nah. Given! He started with a present perfect, so he should have finished with the present perfect, (should have) given, not the simple past, gave.

Don’t you do that.

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Rogers George has been a technical writer for more than 20 years. He has written on subjects as diverse as outhouse assembly, restaurant reviews, software, information security, and scientific equipment. He has his own writing consultancy and is always happy to discuss writing and grammar. Drop him a line at curmudgeon@writing-rag.com.

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