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MUSCOVITE Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

"forgot your password?" .. why 'forgot"?

Hi,

Everyone knows how a typical logon procedure looks...
The user should enter their login and password, etc.
In a typical logon window we can often see a button called either "Forgot your password?" or "Forgotten your password?" , or "Forget your password?". (And "Forgot your password" is used far more often than the other two)

Now, to my question.

I understand that only "I forget" (= "I cannot remember") and
"I have forgotten" can refer to the present.
It seems to me that "I forgot" is very close to " I could not remember" and so cannot be used for "I have forgotten my password".

Please tell me where is the wrong link in my "train of thought" :-)

Thank you.

mus-te
  

Top answer

As far as I can tell, forgot here is just a tech-style form of shorthand.

  • As far as I can tell, forgot here is just a tech-style form of shorthand.
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4 Answers
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As far as I can tell, forgot here is just a tech-style form of shorthand.
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Thank you, Philip!
PhilipAs far as I can tell, forgot here is just a tech-style form of shorthand.
I wonder if you could give me more examples of this kind? One can hardly find SUCH information in any "regular" grammar books...
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No shoes, no shirt: no service.
[ More will come from others, I'm sure. ]
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There's an implied "If you...": "If you forgot your password, click here." The question mark is used sort of informally.

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