Submitted by joni  •  February 17, 2005

statement

Which statement is correct?

1. The patient has never undergone a colonoscopy.

2. The patient has never underwent a colonoscopy.

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speedwell2

February 17, 2005, 9:19am

The following sentences are both correct:

"The patient has never undergone a colostomy."

"The patient never underwent a colostomy."

One or the other may sound better to you in your context.

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speedwell2

February 17, 2005, 9:22am

Think of a simpler example:

"I have never gone to see her new house."

Or,

"I never went to see her new house."

"To undergo" follows essentially the same format as "To go."

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CQ  (unregistered)

February 17, 2005, 10:43am

Yes, as Speedwell says, both "has never undergone" and "never underwent" are gramatically correct, but they are not semantically equal.

Speedwell is right that undergo has the same forms of go: go, went, gone. So...in the past you'd say underwent, but if you are suggesting that the patient will likely be undergoing a colostomy, even though they haven't in the past, you would use "has never undergone."

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Jeff  (unregistered)

March 2, 2005, 12:29pm

However, the "has" should not be present in the second example. Speedwell and CQ did not include it in their responses; I just thought I should point that out.

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as

September 30, 2006, 4:32am

how to use word 'had' , 'has' ,'had been' and 'has been'??

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