The loss of “saw”.
July 27th, 2015
I’m getting sick and tired of yet another sign of the poor use of the english language by native english speakers. These worrying signs suggest that good english is fast disappearing, and the bad habits are becoming the norm.
Again, I understand that languages evolve, but I’d much rather english evolve in a good way. What I’m witnessing is devolution, and that’s not a good thing.
My latest bug-bear: see/saw/seen
Here’s an example that I just witnessed in a news vox-pop, but which is typical of the spreading problem:
“That’s when I seen the flames.”
ARGH!!!
The correct sentence, my inarticulate countryman is, “That’s when I SAW the flames.”
Let’s get this right. Here’s how the three ways in which the verb “to see” are used:
1. “I see.” (Present tense. Example – “I see the car.”)
2. “I saw.” (Past tense indicative. Example – “I saw the car this morning.”)
3. “I have seen.” (Past tense subjunctive. Example – “I have seen the car many times.”)
So the problem is a confusion between the last two. The basic rule is that if you are talking about something very specific and precise (such as the one car in the second example above), then use “SAW”. If you are talking about something less exact, speculative, or general (such as seeing the car many times) then use “HAVE SEEN”.
Another helpful hint – “seen” will almost NEVER be used without the word HAVE in front of it. So if what you’re about to say would not be correct without the phrase “have seen”, then you probably mean to use “saw”.
Frankly, it’s easy. And I’m sick of people getting it wrong. It’s bad, and only serves to make you sound like a redneck idiot when you get it wrong.