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August 09, 2005
How many English degrees does it take...
...before you notice Microsoft Passport's grammar errors?
Apparently more than two, because I never noticed this before.
 |
Yeah. The linked text "Forgot your password?" is grammatically incorrect and one man is crusading against it, contacting Microsoft, and getting nowhere. As he says: |
"Forgot" is the wrong form of the verb "to forget". What they are thinking is "Have you forgot your password?" which any English teacher would most definitely mark incorrect.
The link should read [Have you] "Forgotten your password?" or maybe [Did you] "Forget your password?" or perhaps "I forgot my password".
August 9, 2005 | Permalink
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» Microsofts Grammatik from roxomatic
LibrarianInBlack weist auf einen peinlichen Lapsus bei Microsoft Passport hin.
Forgot your password? ist grammatikalisch nicht korrekt. Es heißt entweder Forgotten your password? oder I forgot my password.
Ist mir bislang nirgendwo aufgefallen... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 10, 2005 1:10:55 AM
Comments
And my OED agrees with you. Perhaps I should have checked on this one before posting it :)
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (Librarian in Black) | August15, 2005
"Forgot" is an acceptable past participle, along with "forgotten," according to the American Heritage Dictionary, http://www.bartleby.com/61/11/F0261100.html
Posted by: jeff | August14, 2005
seems to me, and i'm an english teacher who never stops learning english, that british english allows for forget/forgot/forgot while american english uses the forget/forgot/forgotten.
don't bug me about my lack of capitals. this is a blog, not Time mag.
Posted by: r paul | August14, 2005
it's probably just one of those American-ism things .. you know ... "real nice" instead of "realLY nice". that "real" stuff drives me nuts, and it doesn't take an english degree.
Posted by: sunup | August10, 2005
It could in theory be "(you) forgot your password?" But somehow I doubt it. I'm pretty sure the intention is to represent "(have you) forgotTEN your password?" Ah well...
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (Librarian in Black) | August10, 2005
I'm french and I wouldn't know for sure, but why couldn't it be a preterit, as David (above) implied ? Maybe a colloquial preterit, but still.
Posted by: Sylvain | August10, 2005
Couldn't it also be a disbelieving "(you) forgot your password?" Or am I just irritated at patrons that can't remember their pin number five minutes after they got it?
Posted by: David | August 9, 2005
Tee hee! Yes, and I'm glad someone caught it. I do this from time to time--throw something really off into a post...just to make sure y'all are paying attention! Glad to see you are, Walt :) Now that it's been noticed, I'll go ahead and fix it. Walt wins the cookie!
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (Librarian in Black) | August 9, 2005
"grammer errors" is, I assume, your own in-joke.
Posted by: walt crawford | August 9, 2005
