Revised as of
28 Dec 2022
It’s those heterographs again. Always being typed but somehow never seen in the writer’s scene.
Scene and seen are both about the visual, but a scene tends to be a visual location, either in reality or through a writer’s words. Seen is more how you perceive the scene.
I know, at first it seems contrary to “have seen” a writer’s words, but remember, it’s all about the perception. So, yeah, scene and seen are both physical and imagination. And no, that does not mean you get to use your imagination when spelling it out!
Seen as the Past Participle of See
Using a past participle requires a helping verb and creates a present perfect tense.
| helping verb * | + | past participle of main verb |
| has have had having |
seen |
* Be and do are the other principal helping verbs.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Scene | Seen |
|---|---|
Macdougal Street and Minetta Lane Street Scene, NYC courtesy of NP Gallery under the GNU or CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A typical street scene in Greenwich Village, New York City. |
Special Forces in a Simulated Search, Eglin Range, Florida, 5 November 2013, by Senior Airman Christopher Callaway and courtesy of the U.S. Air Force and in the public domain, via the Department of Defense. — As seen through a night-vision device, Army Special Forces members search a simulated casualty during a training exercise. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: scenes |
The following definition and examples only address how seen is applied, for more about see, check out the post, “Sea versus See“.
Morpheme: see Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: sees |
| Visual location, stage, setting
The place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred
A sequence of continuous action in a play, movie, opera, or book
|
Perceived
Verb, intransitive: Perceive with the eyes
[see to] Attend to
Ensure Verb, transitive:
Discern or deduce mentally after reflection or from information
Meet someone one knows socially or by chance
Escort or conduct someone to a specified place [In poker or brag] Equal the bet of an opponent |
| Examples: | |
| The emergency team were among the first on the scene.
Relatives left flowers at the scene of the crash. I was aghast. It was a scene of carnage. Thick snow had turned the scene outside into a picture postcard. There had already been some scenes of violence. The exhibit will display scenes of 1930s America. She’s hot on the country music scene. Frank, I’m desperate for a change of scene. The series has done obscenely well since it first hit the scene. Diplomatic maneuvers were going on behind the scenes. She was loath to make a scene in the office. Do you remember that scene from Brando’s first film? Take it from the beginning of Act One, Scene One. “We have about 8,000 scene changes,” he whined. That religious stuff is just not my scene. Trump’s election set the scene for bitter debates. |
Verb, intransitive: Andrew hasn’t seen out of his left eye since the accident. So, have you seen into the future? I’ve seen to Dad’s tea. Lucy has seen to it that everyone got enough to eat and drink. George has seen that no harm came to him. Verb, transitive: I had seen from your appraisal report that you had asked for training. I’ve already seen King Lear at the Old Vic. Taking a sea cruise was the only way to have seen Alaska in style. This part of South London has seen better days. The 1970s saw the beginning of a technological revolution. They had seen their rights being taken away. I didn’t know what I had seen in him. He hadn’t seen any other way to treat it. I saw that perhaps he was right. Paul had seen that George would be a good teacher. You been seen, dude. Have you ever seen him earning any money? I had seen Caroline last night. You’ve seen a solicitor, right? The doctor had seen her yesterday. He done seen her get outta the car. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: scenic Noun: interscene, scena, scenario, scene-stealer, scenery, scenography, |
See “Sea versus See” for derivatives of see.
Noun: seeing |
| Phrasal Verb | |
| had seen about had seen after had seen off had seen out had seen over had seen someone off had seen someone out had seen someone through had seen something of had seen something out had seen something through had seen through had seen to |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Mid-16th century denoting a subdivision of a play or a piece of stage scenery. It’s from the Latin scena, which is from the Greek skēnē meaning tent, stage. | Middle English from the Anglo-Norman French sed, which is from the Latin sedes meaning seat, which is from sedere for sit. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Scene versus Seen
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The Making of Harry Potter, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/7526857102/64bfb286ed/>, 29 May 2012, by Karen Roe, <https://visualhunt.com/author/0afa77>, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
