Alma 12:26 Textual Variants

Here we have an instance of the simple past-tense went acting as the past participial form for the verb go. The 1906 LDS large-print edition introduced the standard gone into the LDS text; the RLDS text retained the nonstandard went until the 1953 RLDS edition. Elsewhere, the text has only the standard gone (73 times). As discussed under past participle in volume 3, the use of the simple past-tense form for the past participle was common in the original text of the Book of Mormon (such as “the angel had spake unto us” in 1 Nephi 3:30 and “we had came down” in 1 Nephi 5:1). The critical text will restore this usage whenever it is supported in the earliest text. Here in Alma 12:26, the original nonstandard use of “could have went” will be restored, even though it is conjoined with partaken (the standard past participial form for the verb partake) rather than with partook (the simple past-tense form). For discussion of past participial partook, see under 1 Nephi 8:25.