
I have neither hung nor hanged my washing on the line, for the clouds are a dull, lowering grey and the wind is icy. I threw my clothes into the dryer—which is one way of getting out of a grammar question, I suppose. Image: Anh. Adobe Stock Images.
A trend I have noticed is authors using use the transitive form of a verb rather than the intransitive for past tense. (A bit hazy on my grammar here, so if I have my transitives and intransitives wrong, apologies.)
For example, the author might say:
“The light shined on the sword.”
Where I would write:
“The light shone on the sword.”
It’s not just shined/shone. Instead of “I woke early,” the protagonist says, “I waked early.” Instead of “I hung the washing on the line,” the protagonist says, “I hanged the washing on the line.”
I googled it and shined seems to be a common US usage, but I can’t remember coming across it in books before.
I’m noticing this more in stories on Kindle Unlimited. I don’t know if this trend is specific to self-publishing, whether it’s relatively new usage, or whether it’s just one of the differences between US and British usage and I haven’t noticed it before.
Which usage do you use?
Published on June 25, 2023 01:49