Hello SErs. Happy Wednesday. Harmony here 🙂
While writing my current book, Exodus, I ran into a little difficulty … well, it felt more like a brick wall, lol. What tripped me up well and truly is a little thing called a past participle (I don’t know about you, but I hate grammatical terms. They always sound more complicated than they are, somehow, lol).
I wanted to write about shift schedules, which here in the UK, we call Rotas (I haven’t checked yet to see if that’s the same terminology as the States, etc. But you get the drift.) I wanted to say something like … Rota(ed) on. And that’s were the trouble began.
Usually, when my brain outright refuses to give up the goods, I turn to Google, and all my problems are solved. Not so this time. It seems there is no agreed upon form of the past particple of Rota. Here’s what I came up with from my online search …
There seems to be no definite ruling on the correct past participle of rota or the correct past tense usage for other words ending in ‘a’.
(Taken from myenglishlanguage.com).
The options they suggested are:
Rotad
Rotaed
Rota’d
They even put that to a vote!
The trouble is, to me, none of them look right. The nearest might be Rota’d, but then that’s an incorrect use of an apostrophe, arrgghhh. [Head against brick wall time] In the end, I gave up and chose Rostered instead. It saved me more of a headache, lol.
What about you? Have you come across words that you just cannot place into past-tense form? Like me, do you switch-out words for simpler ones when you get stuck and Google can’t help? Do any of you know of a definitive past participle for Rota? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
©Harmony Kent, 2019
Reblogged this on Archer's Aim and commented:
Can you answer this grammatical head scratcher shared on Story Empire by Harmony Kent? I tend to move to the easiest usage. Hint: this is actually a Latin word.
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Thanks for sharing the post, and for your Latin insight, PH 🙂
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I am not familiar with the word, “Rota.” I don’t think we use it in the U.S. But, in answer to your question, yes, I have run into words before that just simply don’t work no matter what form I put them in. So, I visit the Thesaurus and choose a different word to say the same thing. It’s kinda like using a Capo when playing the guitar to get a different chord in an easier way. 🙂 Thanks for this interesting post!
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I adore that musical analogy! Thanks, Jan 🙂
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My mind is asking if rota is a noun or a verb. It sounds as if it take the place of a schedule (a noun), which may be why you are having difficulty seeing it written in a verb’s past tense. I like the suggestions above of scheduled, rotated, etc. Or maybe, you can simply put “changed rotas.” Just an idea. 😉
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In the context I wanted to use Rota, it was a verb rather than a noun. As it was an action not a name. Gotta love the English language! Thanks, Yvi. All great suggestions 😊
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SEs PH Solomon looked into the etimology of Rota for me, and it comes from the Latin (as I’d suspected), and it’s root is a noun. It seems these problems occur when we take such words into modern usage without resorting to the Latin verb form of rotare or rotate, lol. All in all, I’m so glad I found a substitute word! 🙂
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Rota is not a word I’m familar with, sorry. When I hear the technology terms my mind starts to wander away. I have a couple words that try me and I avoid them, it’s frustrating when no firm rule applies. Hope you find the answe!
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That is a frustrating thing about the English language. There are so many instances where there are no rules or the thing is an exception to the rule (like i before e except after c … when some words are simply ei with no c in sight lol). Thanks, Denise 🙂
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Much the same trouble with our term down under which is ‘roster’. Rostered on just looks (and sounds) awful! I think in this case I’d switch the word out for something friendlier, like scheduled on.
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Yes, scheduled is a friendly word. Thanks, Jessica 🙂
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When I use a word that’s that hard to decide on, I give up and go for something else. If it doesn’t look right to me, I’m guessing it won’t look right to readers either:)
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That’s my thinking, too. Thanks, Judi 😊
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I’m with you, just call it by what it is, lol. My critique group starts talking participles, antecedent, compound adjectives and my head pounds 🙂
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Lol. Yep … When you take out the jargon it’s not anywhere near as bad! 😊
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I am always in awe of those who quest for the answer. I do write arounds and then punt to a brilliant editor. Super post, Harmony
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That works, John! 😁. Glad you enjoyed the post 😊
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😀
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I’m now on edit number three of my book and having to google just about everything. I’m beginning to wish that I’d kept a notebook on all of my Google’s. There’s another … can you have ‘Google’s’ … it’s all too confusing for words if you’ll excuse the pun. Katie
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Lol, Katie. I’ve got edits to come. Love the pun. You can have Googles in this case but not Google’s! Good luck with the editing 😊
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Thanks!! Loved your post. 😊
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That is UK term I have never heard before. I like your write-around with “roster.”
I can’t think of any specific word or phrase I’ve encountered when writing that left me flummoxed, but I KNOW it’s happened often. When I hit those problems I go for the write-around too. When Google fails to deliver an answer you know it’s time to abandon the quest, LOL.
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LOL. For sure, Mae 😊
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Might try rotated to indicate a change in schedule.
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That’s another good word. Thanks, Craig 😊
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Wow, that is a UK term for sure. When I worked in the mining industry we called them shifters. We might refer to swing shifters, and occasionally swingers (But you might want to avoid that usage). Day shifters, graveyarders, etc. I agree with Joan and would write around it. In science fiction and fantasy you can make up your own terms if you give enough context.
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Swingers!!! Lol. Not heard of shifters in that context before. Talk about an uncommon common language! Thanks, Craig 😊
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It really is. We had days, swing, and graveyard. As miners we modified the language when referring to them.
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I don’t remember coming across one, but if that happened to me, I would have done what you did and change the word completely.
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Yep, it seemed far easier! Thanks, Michele 🙂
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We have a saying in my writer’s group, “Write around it.” This is definitely a time to take that advice.
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I have not come across an unsolvable one like this, Harmony. Interesting question?
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I find it fascinating that in modern English, we have no rules or answers for a whole range of words. Thanks, Robbie 🙂
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I loved the title! Like you, I hate grammatical errors (although I’ve made my share of them). No clue as to the answer to your question.
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Glad you love the title. It gave me a smile. Thanks, Joan 🙂
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thanks for the reblog, Jaye and Anita 🙂
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Sorry, but you lost me at ‘past’…
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I just sprayed my morning coffee everywhere! LOL 🙂
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Sorry!
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This is great
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Thanks, tumuhaisemathew6 🙂
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