In a message dated 10/22/2001 6:40:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Hadn't ought to be, I think,
 finesses the need for past participle by simply breaking the rule.  The
 pressure of meaning -- his desire to give us a verb phrase that combines
 past, plus perfect, plus the modal notion of desirabilty -- has pushed
 him to create a brand new form. Or so I see it.  My questioin, again, is
 whether we should give him credit for creating it or simply credit for
 using a colloquial form that he might have heard >>


Just FYI - I grew up hearing "hadn't ought" as a child in New England as in
"He hadn't ought to stack the wood on his porch; the termites will eat his
house."  It was perfectly acceptable grammar and widely used.

Gretchen in San Jose
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