See, saw, or seen?
One of the most common grammatical mistakes I notice is the misuse of "see", "seen", and "saw". Whether writing or speaking, many people have a hard time understanding which verb tense is appropriate for their situation. Every style guide I found uses the same rules. Here's a quick primer:
"See" is the verb you use in the present (or future) tense:
I can see my dog on the other side of the park.
My dad will see better with his new glasses.
I cannot see your point of view.
"Saw" is the verb you use in the past tense:
Yesterday I saw the new Spiderman movie.
I just saw that boy run across the street.
I finally saw her point of view.
"Seen" is the past participle of the verb and is used to form present perfect or past perfect tenses. This is the trickiest one for most people! However, there are two easy rules to remember that will help. First, "seen" always needs a helper verb, like "has", "had", or "have". Second, you cannot use it in conjunction with a specific point in time. Consider these:
I have seen that painting somewhere before.
This sentence indicates that the subject is currently seeing something (a painting) that he or she has seen at some non-specific point in the past (before).
She had seen the stray cat several times last week.
This sentence is incorrect. While the verb is conjugated correctly, specifying the time frame is what makes it wrong. It could say:
She had seen the stray cat several times prior to today.
She had seen the stray cat before.
If the point in time needs to be specific, just use the past tense "saw":
She saw the cat several times last week.
Easy peasy! Just remember: "see" is happening now, "saw" happened in the past, and "seen" requires a helper verb and a non-specific time. If you see "seen" being used on its own, you know it's wrong.
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