Unfiltered Story #281785

I was 11 years old then, and an avid reader. However, English being my second language often meant I made silly errors. But this one time the tables had turned.

We had just got back our routine tests checked and marked. It was the first one I’m our academic year, and I was quite looking forward because that’s the first time we were scored in school tests.

I open the test and see that the teacher has corrected two mistakes on the first page. In both cases I had wrote, “The ointment cost…” The teacher had corrected it to “The ointment costed…”

Seeing that she had scored me less for those answers, I felt upset, but wasn’t sure I had ever heard the word “costed” before. So I come home and ask my parents, who ask another English teacher. We all consult various English books, all of which tell us the past tense of “cost” is “cost”, so is its past participle.

The next day I go to the teacher asking her about it. Perhaps it was a mistake.

Me: Um…You wrote the past tense of “cost” as “costed”. I think it is “cost”.

(My teachers of the previous grade already informed that I have a good grip on English)

Teacher: (My name), you shouldn’t be making such mistakes. I know what I wrote, and I corrected it carefully.

Me: But (common grammar book name) said…(repeating myself)

Teacher: No way! You don’t have to do this for one mark, okay? Just write it correctly the next time.

I was in the school till the end, throughout which various English teachers made numerous mistakes. Every time they were told, they tended to assume a “I’m the best know-it-all” aura and wave me off. They scored me pretty low, until out finals which are checked by teachers of different schools. I scored a 100 out of 100 in English and went off to pursue English Honours. And still I haven’t come across any platform that says the past tense of “cost” is “costed”.