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Mind your language

The real reason people say ‘I text him’ instead of ‘I texted’ him

8 December 2018

9:00 AM

8 December 2018

9:00 AM

Martin Allen has written with a very interesting question. It follows on from his initial query, which is why people use text as the form of the verb in the past tense: ‘I text him yesterday.’ He adds: ‘It sound moronic to me, but is this how irregular verbs originate?’

The funny thing is that Shakespeare himself might have used the regular texted as a past tense.

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