The Past of Pay is Paid

The Past of Pay is Paid The Past of Pay is Paid The Past of Pay is Paid By Maeve Maddox A reader expresses dismay at lapses in the spelling of the past form of the verb pay:    An article in the Burlington (VT) Free Press today had  this heading:   Isle La Motte to vote on spending repayed funds. [W]hen did repayed become an acceptable word?   The answer, of course, is that it hasn’t. Note: a Free Press reader pointed out the misspelling on the paper’s site: repayed Who buyed your English classes? and the misspelled word was promptly corrected. Our DWT reader offers another, more unfortunate example: My friends son received a report card from his teacher that read:   Tate payed attention in class.   Language changes and irregular verbs morph into regular verbs with -ed endings, but some words are in such frequent use that the older forms endure. It’s difficult to understand how someone educated as a teacher or a journalist could fail to master such a basic irregular spelling as paid. The OED does include the spelling â€Å"payed† as a form used â€Å"chiefly in the nautical sense†: pay: v. To smear or cover (a wooden surface or join, esp. the seams of a ship) with pitch, tar, or other substance, so as to make watertight or resistant to damage. Also (occas.) with over. Merriam-Webster lists â€Å"payed† as a past form used for another nautical expression: pay: to slacken (as a rope) and allow to run out For the everyday sense of pay as remuneration, the past tense is paid. Two other common verbs ending in -ay that also change the y to i in the past are say and lay: say/said/have said lay/laid/have laid Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating Conjunctions26 Feel-Good Words

Calderas - Worlds Largest

Calderas - Worlds Largest Calderas are large craters formed by volcanic explosions or by unsupported surface rock collapsing into empty magma chambers beneath the ground. They sometimes are referred to as supervolcanoes. One way to understand calderas is to think of them as reverse volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions often will be the cause of magma chambers being left empty and leaving  the volcano above unsupported. This can cause the ground above, sometimes an entire volcano, to collapse into the empty chamber. Yellowstone Park Yellowstone Park is perhaps the most well-known caldera in the United States, drawing millions of tourists every year. According to Yellowstones website, the supervolcano was the site of massive eruptions 2.1 million years ago, 1.2 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago. Those eruptions were, respectively, 6,000 times, 70 times, and 2,500 times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. Explosive Force What today is known as Lake Toba in Indonesia is the result of perhaps the greatest volcanic eruption since the dawn of early man. Approximately 74,000 years ago, Mount Tobas eruption produced about 2,500 times more volcanic ash than Mount St. Helens. This led to a volcanic winter that had a devastating effect on the entire human population  of the time. The volcanic winter lasted six years and led to a 1,000-year-long ice age, according to research, and the world population was reduced to about 10,000 adults. Potential Modern Impact Research into how a massive eruption would impact the world day shows the effects to be potentially devastating. One study focusing on Yellowstone suggests another eruption comparable in size to the three biggest ones of the past 2.1 million  years would kill 87,000 people instantly. The volume of ash would be enough to collapse rooftops in states surrounding the park. Everything within about 60 miles would be destroyed, most of the western United States would be covered in about 4 feet of ash, and an ash cloud would spread across the entire planet, casting it in shadow for days. The impact on vegetation could lead to food shortages across the planet. Visiting the Largest Calderas on the Planet Yellowstone is just one of many calderas throughout the world. Like Yellowstone, many of the others can be interesting and fascinating places to visit and to study. Below is a list of the worlds largest calderas: Caldera name Country Location Size(km) Mostrecenteruption La Pacana Chile 23.10 S67.25 W 60 x 35 Pliocene PastosGrandes Bolivia 21.45 S67.51 W 50 x 40 8.3 Ma Kari Kari Bolivia 19.43 S65.38 W 30 Unknown Cerro Galan Argentina 25.57 S65.57 W 32 2.5 Ma Awasa Ethiopia 7.18 N38.48 E 40 x 30 Unknown Toba Indonesia 2.60 N98.80 E 100 x 35 74 ka Tondano Indonesia 1.25 N124.85 E 30 x 20 Quaternary Maroa/Whakamaru NewZealand 38.55 S176.05 E 40 x 30 500 ka Taupo NewZealand 38.78 S176.12 E 35 1,800 yr Yellowstone USA-WY 44.58 N110.53 W 85 x 45 630 ka La Garita USA-CO 37.85 N106.93 W 75 x 35 27.8 Ma Emory USA-NM 32.8 N107.7 W 55 x 25 33 Ma Bursum USA-NM 33.3 N108.5 W 40 x 30 28-29 Ma Longridge(McDermitt) USA-OR 42.0 N117.7 W 33 ~16 Ma Socorro USA-NM 33.96 N107.10 W 35 x 25 33 Ma TimberMountain USA-NV 37 N116.5 W 30 x 25 11.6 Ma ChinatiMountains USA-TX 29.9 N104.5 W 30 x 20 32-33 Ma Long Valley USA-CA 37.70 N118.87 W 32 x 17 50 ka greater MalySemiachik/Pirog Russia 54.11 N159.65 E 50 ~50 ka greater BolshoiSemiachik Russia 54.5 N160.00 E 48 x 40 ~50 ka greaterIchinsky Russia 55.7 N157.75 E 44 x 40 ~50 ka greaterPauzhetka Russia 51 N157 E ~40 300 ka greaterKsudach Russia 51.8 N157.54 E ~35 ~50 ka Source: Cambridge Volcanology Group  caldera database