"Windows is activated"

Lysander

Lysander

Lysander

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Isn't this bad grammar? Shouldn't it be "Windows has been activated" or "Windows is active"?

Shouldn't be too surprised, I suppose. Especially when it starts telling me my action has been 'canceled' or that I have a 'favorites' menu to save to.
 
Poodmund said:
Activated is past tense. Surely it would be, "Windows is active".
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No, activated and active are two separate contexts of the same root word but one isn't past tense of the other. To use 'active' in the past tense you would still use the word 'active', i.e "I was more active when I was younger"; you wouldn't say "I was activated when I was younger".

'Activated' in "Windows is activated" is more like the word 'motivated' in the sentence "I am motivated".

Active = doing something
Activated = Authorised
 
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Poodmund said:
Activated is past tense. Surely it would be, "Windows is active".
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Depends on the context. If it is refering to the state that it is an activated (authorised) installation of Windows the it is correct, if it is refering to the state of simply currently being in use then it is not.
 
TheCenturion said:
In this case, activated is not in the past tense. It is in the present participle form (I think)
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No - present participle is an "ing" form (doing, going etc.).

There's nothing wrong with the OP - it's a present passive form (from which the object has been omitted) which is used to make the thing "receiving" the action the active subject. In this case, that is "Windows", and it has been "activated". The past participle form is used as it's in passive voice.

estebanrey said:
No it should be "Britain Has Got Talent"
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As I understand it you're saying that the apostrophe can only mean "is" for a third person singular subject? The apostrophe shorthand is also fine for "has" - "Britain's" can mean "Britain is" or "Britain has", and which one is given by the context. For example, you'd say "John's gone to the shops", which is clearly a present perfect aspect rather than a present passive or incorrectly stated present continuous.
 
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The worst Microsoft one for me was "Windows 2000, built on NT Technology" on the start-up screen.

With the NT acronym expanded, it reads "Windows 2000, built on New Technology Technology".
 
Monserrat said:
The worst Microsoft one for me was "Windows 2000, built on NT Technology" on the start-up screen.

With the NT acronym expanded, it reads "Windows 2000, built on New Technology Technology".
Click to expand...

I've often found people saying "MRI imaging" when describing our work - much the same thing! Magnetic resonance imaging imaging :p
 
Monserrat said:
The worst Microsoft one for me was "Windows 2000, built on NT Technology" on the start-up screen.

With the NT acronym expanded, it reads "Windows 2000, built on New Technology Technology".
Click to expand...
It apparently stood for N10, the code name for the Intel processor it targeted. It was the marketing people who came up with the "New Technology", which was later dropped and have "no specific meaning".

Well, that's what Wikipedia says ;)
 
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