“You know what? I seen a vampire trying to squeeze under my twin bed once. When he realised I seen him, he bared his fangs at me,” blabbered Harish, as he was trying to make his brother believe his horror story; but his brother brushed it aside as childish prattle and his mother was not pleased with the wrong usage of the participle seen .
Not Harish’s day, actually!
Seen is the past participle of the verb see. Generally, seen is used alongside have, has, had, was or were in a sentence to make compound verbs.
Usage: Seen isn’t a stand-alone verb. It needs another verb to prop it up to form a compound verb.
Mark has seen the film many times. (present perfect — has+ past participle; used for an action that has happened at an unspecified time before now).
She had seen the snowman before it melted. (past perfect — had+ past participle; used to describe the idea that something occurred before another action in the past.)
So, Harish has to understand the right use of seen: “You know what? I have seen a vampire trying to squeeze under my twin bed once. When he realised I had seen him, he bared his fangs at me.”
That would at least make his mother happy!
