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Choose and chose
tend to cause me problems. Both words refer to the action of
selecting something, but differ in their tense. Although I
can correctly say that I chose my favorite pen yesterday, I
can only write it correctly if my spelling and grammar check
is on. But recently, I discovered a trick.
Choose is the infinitive
form of the word. The double vowels cause the first part of
the word to sound like the word chew.
I think I want to choose
door number 2.
Which one would you choose?
Nick is choosing door
number 3.
I wouldn’t trust Nick’s choice;
he always chooses the wrong door.
Chose is the past tense
form of choose. The first vowel in this word is a
long O, causing the first part of the word to rhyme
with the word show.
After much deliberation, I
chose door number 2.
To form the present perfect (has
chosen or have chosen) or past perfect (had
chosen), provide the correct helping verb and add an
n to chose.
If I had chosen door
number 3, it would have led to sudden death.
So, when deciding which word to
use, consider when the choice was made. All present or
future choices use a variation of the double vowel form (choose)
and all past choices use a variation of the single vowel
form (chose). Also, watch out for those doors. |