Could you tell me which is correct? His suspicions proved to be correct. OR His suspicions proved correct. (This one sounds funny to me, but you can write, "this tool proved very useful," can't you?) Thanks!
either one is ok, thought the second is more commonly used, the first being a bit wordy... it's just a matter of style...
I generally see this sentence written in the form: His suspicions were proven to be correct. Isn't suspicions a past tense - suspicious being the present tense? He was suspicious, he had suspicions? So wouldnt this make the case past tense or I have just completely lost the plot again with?
"Suspicions" has no tense. It's not a verb; it's a plural noun. "Suspicious" is an adjective. It also has no tense.
Though of course "suspect" can be a noun, too. Another instance of the general principle that it's often not possible to determine what part of speech a word is if it's out of context.
I suspect that they are both correct and harbor further suspicion that the less wordy (concise) version is generally preferred, thus the tendency for it to be used more frequently. Whether my suspicions will ever prove to be correct though, evades me.
Google nGram viewer supports that, although "proved to be correct" still makes a fair showing, possibly because language isn't a game of trying to convey meaning in as few words as possible. If you try "proved [to be] true" and "proved [to be] right" as well then the results are fascinating. Something seems to have happened in the first half of the 20th century.
Thanks for that confirmation digitig. That nGram viewer looks handy. I'll be sure to add that link to my favorites. I'm sure OP appreciates your input too.
It was somebody else here pointed it out to me. I wish I could remember who so I could give them credit.
