Have Went vs. Have Gone (A Carla Writing Tip)
Published on October 24, 2014
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This one is going to be sorta kinda hard to explain without using complicated grammar texts that even I don’t fully understand. However, since I've been seeing a lot of this, both at WA and many other places, here goes.
I have went to the store.
Have the letters went out yet?
It's Gone, Not Went
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I have gone to the store.
Have the letters gone out yet?
I’m really not sure where the confusion comes in on this one, but there is a lot of it out there.
Easy (I Hope) Explanation
Both went and gone come from the verb “go.”
Went is the past tense of the verb go, but it’s a stand-alone verb, which means it doesn’t need helpers.
Gone is the past participle** of the verb go and needs another verb to prop it up to form a compound verb. The most common support verbs are has, had and have. Went does not need the helpers.
That's about the best I can do on this one. Just bear in mind that if you type have went, you probably want went without the has, had or have or gone with the has, had or have.
**Per Merriam-Webster Online, a past participle is the form of the verb that "expresses completed action and that is one of the principal parts of the verb, as in raised in 'Many hands were raised' and 'thrown' in 'The ball has been thrown.'"
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