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How would you use disproven in a sentence please? Is disproven interchangeable with disproved?

user127575
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  • Disproven is past participle, while disproved is past tense. As adjectives both work in the same way as any other vpt/vpp -- *proven technology, not proved technology*. – Kris Jul 02 '15 at 08:01
  • 'Using activity A is a disproven method of ___ ...' or 'Using activity A as a method of ___ was disproved by...'. As Kris mentions, disproven is an adjective to describe something that has been disproved, whereas disprove is the verb to prove something is false. – nickson104 Jul 02 '15 at 08:51
  • See also http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/68380/is-proven-very-old-fashioned – anemone Jul 02 '15 at 09:02
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    The past participle of prove is either proved or proven. Both are used. – WS2 Jul 02 '15 at 09:06
  • Also very much on point: What is the difference between 'proven' and 'proved'? – Sven Yargs Jul 02 '15 at 09:20
  • @Kris The usual past participle is also disproved. And are you saying that disproven technology sounds as natural as proven technology? I'm with these Google Ngram findings. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 02 '15 at 10:04
  • @nickson104 There are virtually identical numbers of Google hits for "disproved theory" and "disproven theory". Though 'disproven is rarely used nowadays for the past participle. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 02 '15 at 14:46
  • Fair enough, I cant argue with the googly machine. – nickson104 Jul 02 '15 at 14:53
  • @EdwinAshworth Please see my answer for comment on how disproven technology has little use at all. – Kris Jul 03 '15 at 09:32
  • @EdwinAshworth https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=proved+NOUN%2C+proven+NOUN&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cproved%20_NOUN_%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cproven%20_NOUN_%3B%2Cc0 – Kris Jul 03 '15 at 10:01
  • @Kris You seem to be missing the point that answering for 'proven / proved' is inappropriate here. And has already been done elsewhere. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 03 '15 at 10:48

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There are really two issues here.

The past participle as adjective (as in a proven technology) indicates a general condition. The past tense is also used as an adjective (a proved technology) in a specific case.

On the other hand, AmE has progressively been dropping/ deprecating the past participle, preferring the past tense for both the purposes. This is across verbs, not for prove alone, or for that matter, in case of adjective use alone.

Grammatically both are correct and acceptable. (Though I cannot imagine any practical use for disproven per se, though proven is very handy.) They have their uses as noted above. Both can be found in literature, with increasing use in AmE writing of the pp where the pt would be expected.

Kris
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  • Proved is an alternative to proven as the past participle of prove. It is not normal in any variety of English I am aware of to use the past tense of verbs adjectivally (though of course in many verbs the past tense and the past participle are the same). There are a number of verbs where some dialects have a non-standard past participle (eg writ) sometimes of the same form as the past (eg shook, broke) but I don't think there's any evidence that this is a trend which is progressing. – Colin Fine Jul 03 '15 at 09:52
  • "to use the past tense of verbs adjectivally (where the pp is distinct from pt)": There are uses for it. My answer has briefly dealt with the difference. – Kris Jul 03 '15 at 09:59
  • See also: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=proved+NOUN%2C+proven+NOUN&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cproved%20_NOUN_%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cproven%20_NOUN_%3B%2Cc0 – Kris Jul 03 '15 at 10:02
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    Your post has given no examples or references for the phenomenon you claim. I claim that your analysis is based on a mistake, viz that proved is only past and not pp. – Colin Fine Jul 03 '15 at 10:29
  • @ColinFine You could save so much effort if only you read my answer one more time at leisure. And (if so) avoid down voting on impulse. – Kris Jul 07 '15 at 12:24
  • I have read your answer a couple more times. It continues to say "The past tense is also used as an adjective (a proved technology) in a specific case." That is not the past tense: it is an alternative past participle. – Colin Fine Jul 07 '15 at 12:53