While dining today at a local restaurant chain, I checked out the even newer menu. One item caught my attention immediately -- "Chop Steak."
Was "Chop Steak" a hybrid of a chop and a steak? Was the chop a pork or lamb one? Was the steak stuffed with a chop perhaps? Or could knife skills have been utilized in the chopping of the steak before cooking? Maybe a Ninja was involved?
The menu item should have been listed as "Chopped Steak."
It is not "ice tea;" it's "iced tea." It is not "old-fashion ice cream;" it's "old-fashioned ice cream." It is not a "wind-power generator;" it's a "wind-powered generator."
A participle is a word that is formed from a verb and used as an adjective.
For those of you who like to know the rest of the story, know that present participles end in -ing, and past participles end in -d, -ed, -n, -en, and -t (saved, talked, seen, bitten, crept). They show action, but do not serve as verbs in the sentence. Although participles in a verb phrase containing a helping verb are thought of as verbs, other participles modify nouns and pronouns, and thus act like adjectives.
(*Note: A hyphen is used in a compound adjective when it precedes the word it modifies.)
Standard English is not "chopped liver." Correct these minor mistakes in writing and use adjectives correctly. Chop chop.
