# Pet peeve: Bias has a past tense
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 20, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441 "2018-06-20T14:13:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/1 "2018-06-20T14:13:26Z")
Over the last few years I’ve seen an annoying trend of people not understanding that the past tense of “bias” is “biased.” The [data doesn’t show anything](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/reddit-ngram/?keyword=bias.biased&start=20071015&end=20170731&smoothing=10), but here’s 3 random examples from no-name twitter accounts.
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> [@](#):
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> It’s been over 2 weeks and I have yet to hear a single thing from @wizards\_magic after reporting employees like AE Marling, and Judges like John Winter. It is very clear they \*\*were bias \*\*in their rules enforcement. Moving onto phase 5 & 6 this weekend.
]([x.com](https://twitter.com/UnsleevedMedia/status/944327154195722241))
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> [@](#):
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> I think the IG meant their was no documentation of actions of bias. What they did to stop @realDonaldTrump documents were not found. It is clear in his report they **were bias** and dishonest.
]([x.com](https://twitter.com/Maggiestoneham/status/1007600410356600833))
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> [@](#):
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> Exactly! They couldn’t read Hillary’s either, but to prosecute you don’t need intent. This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach about our government. Of course they **were bias**. 2+2=4. You don’t have to be a FBI Director to know that. Smh…
]([x.com](https://twitter.com/JoLissa13/status/1007390133761527810))
At first I thought this was just a common typo, but now I think people just think it’s a word with special grammar rules. I see this all over my FB feed and forum posts.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/2 "2018-06-20T14:22:16Z")
Fortunately I’ve never seen this construction. Although I have seen “bias crime” which sounds awkward enough as it is: even if it is grammatical it sounds like something someone sloppy would say like “democrat politician”.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/3 "2018-06-20T23:17:55Z")
That reminds me of a phrase that annoys me: “worse case [situation]” instead of “worst case”. I guess it’s easy to drop that final sound in “worst” and “biased”.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/4 "2018-06-21T13:41:13Z")
This is actually fairly common – and yes, very annoying – and I suspect just comes from mishearing being transposed into misspelling, since the “-ed” suffix is easy to miss.
Small nitpick: the “biased” in your examples is not technically past tense, but could be regarded as either a past participle with “were” being the auxiliary verb supporting it, or as an adjective so that “they were biased” follows in the pattern of “they were angry”. I’m not sure there’s actually a distinction since past participles can be used as verbal adjectives.
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### Author:  [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/5 "2018-06-21T16:34:29Z")
Try explaining a participle to the world one person at a time.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/6 "2018-06-21T17:20:24Z")
> [@steronz](#):
>
> Over the last few years I’ve seen an annoying trend of people not understanding that the past tense of “bias” is “biased.”
I’ve never seen the past _tense_ of bias misused. (“He biased the court against them.”) All of your examples are people not understanding that the _participle_ form of “bias” is “biased.”
(See also “cliche.”)
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/7 "2018-06-22T04:28:53Z")
I see a lot of people dropping the “ed” from “renowned” these days, as in “a renown performer.”
And not just ordinary people on the Interwebs, although that’s where I first saw it.
[A school.](https://www.stlukesct.org/page/news-detail?pk=1174870)
[A newspaper.](http://www.savannahtribune.com/articles/scad-honors-internationally-renown-performer-jackie-chan/)
[Another newspaper.](https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/10/24/renown-indian-dancer-helps-bridge-cultural-divide-in-emeryville/)
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2018, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/8 "2018-06-22T05:58:38Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I’m not sure there’s actually a distinction since past participles can be used as verbal adjectives.
That’s really the point: Functionally there’s really no difference.
This has nothing to do with tense. You still would say, “They’re biased,” which is present tense. Only verbs have tense in English, and the root _bias_ is mostly used as a participle/adjective (about 10 times more than as verbs in speech). When it is used as a verb, 70% of the time it’s in an academic (written) context.
It’s not uncommon for English language learners to drop the morpheme _-ed_ in situations like this, simply because it carries such relatively low stress that it lacks prominence. It could be that something similar is happening in these OPs examples.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-peeve-bias-has-a-past-tense/816441/9 "2018-06-22T09:24:57Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#):
>
> Try explaining a participle to the world one person at a time.
Tried.
Failed.