I’ll begin with a disclaimer. As a professional writer and speaker I try very hard to respect the rules of grammar, but I’m certain that I make mistakes in grammar, especially in everyday speech, fairly often! English is a tricky language and word usage is always evolving. But please allow me to point out a “pet peeve” grammatical error I hear almost every day, on the street and on radio and TV!

It’s the use of the “past participle” of the verb, “go.” Almost invariably, instead of, “I have gone” or “I had gone,” which is correct, I hear people saying, “I have went” and “I had went.” Ouch! It’s like fingernails on a blackboard for me!

Without getting too complicated, such as getting into terms such as present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect, here are some CORRECT examples of using the various forms of the verb, “go”:

I go to the fair every year.

I went to the fair last year.

I am going to the fair this year.

I have gone to the fair every year for the past five years.

I had gone to other state fairs before I moved here.

If you want to learn more about “verb tenses” and how some of the more complicated English verbs are “conjugated,” just Google (There’s a new verb for you!) “English verb conjugation.”