Singlish

• Word Usage
• Sentence Structure

Sentence Structure

The Case of the Missing -ed Inflection

In Singlish sentences, verbs that are in the past participle or past tense forms are not marked with the appropriate -ed inflection. Although these go unnoticed or are simply ignored in conversations, in writing it would be ungrammatical, hence unacceptable to write in the same way. Here is an example:

	Sometimes when teachers are too stressed, they wish that their students' essays do not have to be mark.
	Sometimes when teachers are too stressed, they wish that their students' essays do not have to be marked.

This is not only the case for verbs, for certain adjectives too, the -ed inflection is needed. And it is quite frequent that this -ed inflection is missing, even in writing. Here is an example:

	This ramp is built to help the handicap and disable.
	This ramp is built to help the handicapped and disabled.