Editor's Corner

Dear Editrix,

Shouldn’t this message say Reports can be run?

Or am I wrong? I see this quite a bit. 😊 We “run” reports, we don’t “ran” reports, unless we are referring to reports that we have already “run.”

Dear reader,

Yes, this is like reading something and being beaten over the head with a lead pipe at the same time. The confusion is understandable, but let’s see if we can unconfuse people and put a stop to this error.

The first issue is using can or could, which are modal verbs (can, could, would, shall, etc.), in the error message. These auxiliary verbs make things cloudier and tend to cause confusion, so we avoid them in documentation when possible.

The present tense of run is run.

• The community center instructors run a fantastic tennis program.
• The credit union runs their reports every evening after closing.

The past tense of run is ran.

• Heranto the stadium to get tickets to the show, but they were already sold out.
• The report ran for an hour and produced 300 pages.

The past participle is also run (with the appropriate conjugation of “to have”).

• I have run this 5k every year for the past seven years, but this year’s was the most fun.
• He has run the specfile three times, and each time it has produced a blank report.

The problem occurs when people use the past tense (ran) rather than the past participle (have run). The following are both incorrect:

• I have ran this 5k every year…
• He has ran the specfile three times…

If those last two items seem okay to you, they aren’t. Please lather, rinse, and repeat reading from the top again. If the last two examples make you want to pull your hair out, and you see someone using them in an error message or documentation, please send this Editor’s Corner to them and ask them to make some updates.

Thank you for checking in with us about this common mistake!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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