Which is correct, "was broadcast live" or "was broadcasted live"

September 7, 2005 10:57 PM

[GrammarFilter] "the show was broadcast live" or "the show was broadcasted live"?

"Broadcast live" sounds better to me than "broadcasted live"... but since "was" makes the sentence past-tense it seems like it would be "broadcasted live". Google shows more results for "was broadcast live" though.

posted by banished to Writing & Language (9 answers total)

It's "broadcast". Don't ask me what sense that makes or why it's that way, but that's the way it is.
posted by davy at 11:00 PM on September 7, 2005

Best answer: The verb broadcast is derived from the verb 'cast'.

'Was broadcast' is the past passive form of the verb, in which the past of 'to be' is used with together the past participle of the main verb. The past participle of 'cast' is 'cast' (it is an irregular verb), and 'broadcast' follows the same pattern.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:05 PM on September 7, 2005

The OED agrees, mostly.
It lists the inflected past tense and past participle as "broadcast," although it also lists "broadcasted" as an occasional alternative.
posted by 5500 at 11:20 PM on September 7, 2005

"The fishing net was cast" (yes)
"The fishing net was casted" (no)

Or at least, that's how I would solve it. :)
posted by -harlequin- at 12:36 AM on September 8, 2005

When you say "something was ___" you're not using the direct past tense form, as stavros indicates, you're using a passive form.

Plain old past tense: The network broadcasted my TV show.
Passive past tense: My TV show was broadcast by the network.
posted by knave at 1:22 AM on September 8, 2005

someone find the conjugations of "to cast" and we're all home free.
posted by NinjaPirate at 2:12 AM on September 8, 2005

Follow my link.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:44 AM on September 8, 2005

To cast, cast, cast, NinjaPirate.
posted by NekulturnY at 4:17 AM on September 8, 2005

NekulturnY is pravil'niy: there is really no word "-casted," with or without prefix (except as an alternative). Regardless of tense or voice, the proper word is (broad)cast.
posted by rob511 at 6:57 PM on September 8, 2005