Kill or killed ?

Question

why did Jack killed himself ?

or

why did jack Jill himself?

which is correct ?

or both acceptable?

Answer 1

Why did Jack kill himself is the only acceptable answer.

Jack killed himself indicates past tense of the verb kill, which is present tense.

Your sentence tense must match the verb tense.

For example; Jack killed his wife yesterday, but Tom kills his wife with laughter daily.

Answer 2

The correct structure should be, "Why did Jack kill himself?" If you turn the sentence into a statement instead of a question, it's easier to choose the correct verb. Jack did kill himself sounds much better than Jack did killed himself. The past-tense "killed" does not need a helping verb.

Answer 3

Here, the first sentence is correct. While making a negative or interrogative type of sentences in English, the role of the Auxilary verb is a must! Let's look at Past Indefinite Tense:

Statement: Jack killed himself.

Negative: Jack did not kill himself.

Interrogative: Did Jack kill himself? or Why did Jack kill himself?

As you see, the role of the auxiliary here is to create different time tenses, and it functions as to modifier assuming all the changes (time, negation etc.) to itself. While doing so, the main verb changes to a simple form and the auxiliary verb changes to its "past" form and shows the time tense.

Answer 4

Hi Venka Y.,

the verb form "did ... kill" is correct. As to whether Jack did in fact kill himself, or whether it was ethically correct (proper) for him to do so, that I can't help you on without knowing more details. It gets more complicated when Jill gets involved -- unless that just was a typographic error ("typo") on your part?

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.

Answer 5

The second option.

“Why did Jack kill himself?” The other option is using the past participle in the incorrect format.

Answer 6

Why did Jack kill himself? is the only acceptable verb form.

Answer 7

"Why did Jack kill himself?" is correct.

The past tense verb here is "did". It would not be killed.

If using killed as a past tense verb, you could say, "Jack killed himself."

Or "Did you hear that Jack killed himself"

Answer 8

Hello Venka,

"Why did Jack kill himself?" is correct because "did" as a verb is written in the past tense. Therefore, "kill" as a verb needs to be written in the present tense. You can't write two verbs in a row in one sentence in the past tense without a conjunction in between because it is considered a double negative in English grammar.