CONTENTS FEATURE: Past participle mastery can help in the present SPOTLIGHT: EditPros clients in the news NET NOTES: Captivating web sites FEATURE: Mastery of past participles can help you in the present      If you wince when your neighbor says "I had went there once before," that's good. If you cringe when your uncle Ted says "I would have drove instead of taking a plane," give yourself a pat on the back. You recognize improper use of a past participle.      A participle is a form of a verb. Unlike the "infinitive" (base) form of a verb, a participle alone cannot function as the main verb of a sentence. A present participle—formed by adding "ing" to the end of a verb—is used as an adjective. The present participle of the verb "wash," for instance, is used in the adjectival form "washing machine."      Just as verbs have a simple past tense, they also have a past participle form. Past participles can be used as adjectives, and also in various "perfect" tenses, including "present perfect," "past perfect," "future perfect" and "conditional perfect." In such constructions, the past participle must be accompanied by an auxiliary verb—typically, some form of the verbs "to have" or "to be" (including "has," "had," was" or "were").      The "past perfect" (also called "pluperfect") tense is used to indicate actions that were completed before a specific time in the past. It's produced by linking some form of the verb "have" with the past participle. When Tennis Coach Thompson declared "I had wrote to the athletic commission two weeks before the ruling," he had the right idea—he was referring to an action that was completed before a specific time. But he should have used the past participle "written" instead of the simple past tense "wrote."      The present perfect tense, consisting of a form of the verb "have" linked to a past participle, is used to indicate past actions that are unfinished or ongoing, such as, "Rick has gained 17 pounds since he started working at the candy factory." For all we know, the action is not completed; Rick may gain even more weight. Present perfect also can be used for past actions without a specific time reference, as in "Rick has tried to lose weight." Perhaps he did so before working at the candy factory but hasn't tried since; or perhaps he's still trying but without success.      For regular verbs (such as "wash") the simple past tense and past participle are both formed by adding "-ed" ("washed"). Simple enough.      Confusion arises from irregular verbs, however. Some verbs shift irregularly to past tense and retain that irregular form for the past participle. For the verb "bend," the past tense and the past participle are both "bent." Other examples are lose/lost/lost and spin/spun/spun.      In other irregular verbs, the past participle is formed by adding an "n" or "en" to the base verb or to its past tense. Such irregular verbs include drive/drove/driven and speak, spoke, spoken. Dictionary entries cite the forms of irregular verbs.      Formation of the past tense and past participle of some irregular verbs is accomplished strictly by vowel changes, as in begin/began/begun and swim/swam/swum.      Some other verbs change irregularly among all principal parts, as in sink/sank/sunk and write/wrote/written. In contrast, no changes occur among the principal parts of other "invariable" irregular verbs—for example, let/let/let and shut/shut/shut.      While some ideas can be expressed equally well using either the past participle or the simple past tense, explanations of complex time relationships require the past participle. In calculating the mileage for a long-distance bicycling excursion, Tony might say, "By next Tuesday, we will have ridden 350 miles." A bit of time-shifting occurs in that sentence, which makes use of the "future perfect" tense. It views action that has not yet occurred from the perspective of a specific moment in the future, at which time the action will have occurred—in the past. Neither the future tense nor the present tense can be used to express that concept. The combination of the auxiliary "will have" and the past participle form the proper tense that precisely defines the time framework.      Next Tuesday, a rider could make use of a different tense by saying, "So far, we have ridden 350 miles." That's the "present perfect progressive," a tense used to express action that began in the past but remains ongoing in the present and will continue.      A cyclist who remained home said, "I would have ridden if the weather had been better." That's the "conditional perfect" tense, which expresses an imagined action that did not occur, but would have if another condition had been met.      Past participles, used properly, can express intricate and specific time references. If the tennis coach had learned more about participles beforehand, he would have been at greater advantage in expressing himself. Yes! EditPros can guide your documents through the participial maze. SPOTLIGHT: EditPros clients in the news California institute for Mental Health marks 10-year anniversary, trains 40 in leadership      The California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH) is commemorating its 10th anniversary and the completion of its first Leadership Institute program. The institute program in which 40 mental health professionals participated encompassed nine days of intensive training that began last fall and concluded in May.      Participants came from mental health agencies throughout California. Stephen W. Mayberg, director of the California Department of Mental Health, attended the graduation. The Leadership Institute was created to help prepare mental health professionals to meet the challenges of guiding public mental health systems. It was designed by the California Institute for Mental Health and the University of Southern California's Sacramento Center in collaboration with an advisory board of experienced mental health directors.      The California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH), an EditPros client, was established by mental health directors in 1993 to promote excellence in mental health services through training, technical assistance, research and policy development. CIMH, based in Sacramento, collaborates with local systems of care (providers and mental health boards and commissions), the California Department of Mental Health, the California Mental Health Planning Council, and involved community groups to define and provide for the training needs of mental health constituent groups. Funding for CIMH comes from numerous sources, including private contributions; charitable foundations; county, state and federal contracts; grants; fees; and product sales.      For more information, call (916) 556-3480 or visit the CIMH Web site. Net Notes: Captivating Internet resources Political Graveyard http://politicalgraveyard.com      Billed as the Internet's most comprehensive source of U.S. political biography, the site contains heavily cross-referenced profiles of more than 120,000 politicians, judges and diplomats. Search by names of individuals, offices held or sought, dates of birth or death, political party, and even burial sites. Site created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum of Ann Arbor, Mich. Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/      Writer Douglas Harper established this site to explore what he calls the "wheel-ruts of English" in which the origins of our contemporary words are embedded. The site offers explanations, rather than definitions, of traditional and ancient meanings of words. The Etymology Dictionary notes, for example, that the noun "security" is derived from the Latin "securus" (without care, safe). The facial hair term "sideburns" is a variant of "burnsides," named for U.S. Army Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, who wore such facial whisker adornment. And "ballot" can be traced to the Italian word "pallotte" (ball), in reference to small balls used as counters in secret voting. America in the 1930s http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/home_1.html      While people equate the 1930s with the Great Depression, they often forget about the artistic, cultural, political, economic and social achievements of that decade that was sandwiched between the Roaring '20s and World War II. Through exhibits focusing on literature, journalism, advertising, motion pictures, radio broadcasting, travel, public works projects, museums, architecture and other aspects of culture, this site pays tribute to memorable American achievements of the 1930s. The site is a project of the American Studies program at the University of Virginia. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. 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