For good and forbade By Doug Smith
I would have bet a quarter that the proper past tense of
forbid was
forbade, and I would have lost. The Random House Unabridged says that
forbid,
forbade and
forbad are all acceptable. I yield to RH in these matters.
Bryan A. Garner doesn't, however. Garner's
Modern American Usage says, "The past tense is
forbade (rhyming with
glad). ...
Forbid is sometimes wrongly used as a past-tense form. ... Some writers – no doubt those who pronounce
forbade correctly — use the variant spelling
forbad. Avoid it." If you're wondering about the correct preposition to go with all these forms of forbid, Random House is silent. Even the dauntless Garner hedges, saying that both
to and
from "appear frequently."
