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Originally posted by kojabu:
One of those makes me quiver. But I'm not actually sure which, I keep changing my mind.

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That's because all of the sentences are incorrect. They use variations of "show" correctly, but this is what they have to look like to be grammatically correct.

"You have shown this to me"
"John has shown this to me"
"You will show this to me"
"Bill showed this to me"

That "to" really has to be in there to make it grammatical.

edit: Sorry about being vague. I can't remember the exact rule that says that. Basically, you have two nouns in the sentence. "This" and "Me". There has to be something there to seperate the two nouns.
 

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Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
 
Look here, a little less than halfway down.
 

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Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
 
Heh, I love the Present Continuous section. It's like Jamaican slang

"I be showing you, mon!"
 

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Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
 
"You show me this."

"You showed me this."

"You have shown me this."

You don't need a "to." In the above phrases, "this" is the direct object and "me" is the indirect object. It doesn't require a preposition and works fine as is.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
BunnV: Showed is the correct simple past form, and both showed and shown are correct as past participles. Thus, all your example sentences are correct. Dante is also correct in saying that you don't need to phrase it like "this to me." Indirect objects can go with a to, but they don't have to.
 

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Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
 
While both "showed" and "shown" are okay, the OED points out that

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for the pa. pple. shown is now the usual form

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Present Continuous_______Past Continuous
I be showing______________I were showing

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Do native speakers ever use this?
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Speakers of black English use the first one, but I've never heard the second one. Of course, I'm not an expert on black English.
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
It's also important to point out that "have shown" is a totally different tense than "had shown."
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
I think BunnV was asking which ones were correct, the first two or the last two. I also forgot to point out that the same thing holds true with shined and shone: both are correct, but there may be regional differences in usage.
 

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Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
 
BunnV, Jon Boy's always right about these things, about grammar questions. And since he confirms exactly what I said in all particulars, my already high confidence in him is now even higher.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
 

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both showed and shown are correct as past participles.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tatiana:
BunnV, Jon Boy's always right about these things, about grammar questions. And since he confirms exactly what I said in all particulars, my already high confidence in him is now even higher.

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*beams*

Jonathan: You have much to learn, my young padawan.
 

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Posted by BunnV (Member # 6816) on :
 
Thanks for having shown me these rules you guys! Really appreciate it.

(Hmm, I hope I used it right that time.)

::doubts himself::
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
For questions like this, it never hurts to check a dictionary. If you go to www.m-w.com and look up a word, you'll see a list of inflected forms. The first is the simple past ("I showed"), the second is the past participle ("I have shown"), and the last is the present participle ("I am showing"). When there's more than one option, they list the most common one first. This is what it looks like:

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showed \shod\; shown \shon \; or showed; show·ing

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shone \shon, especially Canadian and British shän \; or shined; shin·ing

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