Sing, sink, and shrink

These three English verbs have something in common. Besides all starting with “s,” I mean. For the past tense of sing, you occasionally hear people say, ”She sung all four verses of the Star Spangled Banner.” It doesn’t happen often, and the speaker isn’t usually a poster child for good grammar anyway.

But it’s alarming to hear Rhodes-scholar news commentators and respected TV journalists simply ignore the past tense forms of sink and shrink. I’m talking about statements such as these:

Today’s Senate vote all but sunk the party’s hopes for passage of the bill. (Should be sank.)
The ocean liner sunk off the coast of Italy, with many casualties. (Should be sank.)
His lead in the polls shrunk several points after the debate. (Should be shrank.)

I wonder if these reporters grew up watching Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? (Spoiler alert—should also be shrank.)

Each of these verbs has a present tense form, a past tense form, and a past participle. It might surprise some people to know that they are:

Present: sing

Past: sang

Past participle: sung

Present: sink

Past: sank

Past participle: sunk

Present: shrink

Past: shrank

Past participle: shrunk

In other words:

We sing songs around the campfire.

Last summer we sang every song we knew.

We’ve sung them all before.

x
Rescuers could do nothing but watch the ship sink.

It sank out of sight, leaving few survivors.

Two cruise ships have sunk in the same area.

x
Honey, did you shrink the kids?

Yes, I shrank them. Sorry ‘bout that.

You’ve obviously shrunk your brain too. This is grounds for divorce.

In 1989, someone at Disney made a conscious choice to use shrunk in the movie title instead of shrank, even though it was wrong. It just shows how impressionable children are. Years later, despite Oxford and Ivy League educations, these highly touted journalists still think shrunk is the past tense of shrink.

I wonder if they also believe in mermaids …?

 Like TextCPR on Facebook!