It's 4:30 and Isayah has just arrived for work today. He is late, and eating a bag of Lays Barbecue chips. I'm rushing him so my boss won't get annoyed, and in my attempts to say "stop eating,and go get to work!" I say "stop that, and go eat!" I correct myself, but minutes later he says "isn't 'ate' the past tense of 'eat'?" Yes. "So why'd you say hurry up and go eat" instead of "hurry up and ate?"
"Well first, I didn't mean to say eat or ate; i was rushing and misspoke. Secondly, commanding you to 'go eat' implies that i want you to do it now, not in the past, so while 'ate' is a proper use of the past tense, it is used inappropriately if in a present tense command."
"But now that I'm finished my chips, couldn't I tell you that I've 'already ate' so I don't need to hurry up and eat?"
"No, you'd have to say 'have eaten' or 'i've already eaten' which is the past participle."
"Touche', Mom. Touche'."
Score this round for the Mommy, lol. Jeah!
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