十个动词的两种过去式

By Mignon Fogarty

Sometimes you know a word has two forms， but youre not sure which one is appropriate to use in the situation at hand. This happens a lot with verbs， where past-tense forms can compete for acceptance and supremacy1 with language users. Here are ten verbs whose past tense can be confusing， along with some tidbits2 about their history and related linguistic phenomena.

1. creep3

move slowly； in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground

Creeped or crept？ Crept is the past tense， but creeped is popping up because of its presence in the phrasal verb creep out， the past tense of which is indeed creeped out.4 Exceptions like this can often be accepted in certain contexts. With time， these specific instances can slowly reach the mainstream.

2. dwell

inhabit or live in； be an inhabitant of

Dwelt or dwelled ？ Unlike several entries on the list， in the case of dwelt the unusual form predates the one ending in -ed.5 Dwelled is popular in the United States， while dwelt is dominant in Britain.

3. hoist6

raise or haul up7 with or as if with mechanical help

Hoist or hoisted ？ Hoist as a past tense form is what linguists would call a zero-derived8 form： Nothing changes on the surface， but on some level it has to be marked as “past.” There was a verb hoise used primarily in nautical context， and it is thought that its past tense， hoist， was mistaken for a root.9

4. plead

appeal or request earnestly

Pleaded or pled ？ The grammar guides geared towards lawyers were once insistent that pleaded was the correct form， but the persistence of pled has caused the usually adamant attorneys to accept both.10 There may be more going on here， because“he pled guilty11” sounds much better than “he pleaded guilty，” but “she pled with the judge”sounds awful to many ears， while pleaded sounds fine there.

5. knit

make by needlework with interlacing yarn12

Knit or knitted ？ Like plead， these two forms are both accepted nowadays and are in a virtual statistical dead heat in terms of usage.13 Knitted is more popular in its adjectival use. In other words， people more often say “a knitted hat” than “a knit hat.”

6. shrink14

wither， as with a loss of moisture15

Shrunk or shrank ？ A grammar mavens least favorite movie： Honey， I Shrunk the Kids.16 The movie title gets the past tenses confused： Shrunk is past participle and shrank is simple past.17 Technically， it should be Honey， I Shrank the Kids.

7. grind18

reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading19 Ground or grinded ？ Like creeped above， grinded is gaining acceptance over the traditional past tense ground because of the other uses of grinded. Grinded has become a hard-nosed sports term： It is often said of football players， particularly running backs， that “they grinded it out today.”20

8. dream

experience while sleeping

Dreamed or Dreamt ？ Dreamt is more popular in Britain， but both of these forms can function as the past tense. Some sources claim that dreamt is correct for “had a dream while asleep” while dreamed concerns only “hopes and aspirations while awake，” but there is no solid evidence for this.

9. burn

destroy by fire

Burnt or burned ？ Each variant21 is acceptable in the simple pasttense form. The preference for one over the other seems influenced by cultural concerns， as the British prefer burnt. Idiomatic uses also come into play.22 Someone who has ruined all his relationships on purpose is said to have burned his bridges. Burnt might sound strange there.

10. dive

a headlong plunge into23 water

Dived or dove？ This is probably the most often cited instance of two past-tense forms. In this case， it is interesting to note that dove arose as a form much later than dived， another case of the regular，-ed form coming before the “unusual” form.

1. supremacy： 主要地位，最高地位。

2. tidbit： 趣闻，花边新闻。

3. creep： 缓慢（或悄悄地）行进，匍匐。

4. crept是动词creep的過去式，但creeped的出现是因为动词短语creep out的过去式为creeped out。pop up： 冒头，突然出现。

5. entry：（词典的）词条；predate： 在日期上早于（或先于）。

6. hoist： 提起，升起。

7. haul up： 举起。

8. zero-derived： 零派生的，形式没有改变的。

9. 过去有一个词hoise，主要用于航海情境中，而据说hoist作为它的过去式，却被误认为是词根了。nautical： 航海的，海上的。

10. 专门适用于律师的语法书曾坚持pleaded是正确的形式，但由于pled持续被人们使用，所以向来固执的律师们不得不同时接受两种形式。gear towards： 适用于，面向；adamant： 固执的，坚定不移的；attorney： 律师。

11. plead guilty： 认罪。

12. needlework： 针线活，缝纫；interlacing：交织的；yarn： 纱线。

13. 像plead一样，knit的两种过去式同时存在，并且根据统计数据来说，它们的使用频率不相上下。dead heat： 不分胜负。

14. shrink： 收缩，缩小。

15. wither： 枯萎；moisture： 水分，湿气。

16. maven： 内行，专家；Honey， I Shrunk the Kids：《亲爱的，我把孩子缩小了》，1989年的一部美国科幻喜剧片。

17. past participle： 过去分词；simple past：一般过去时。

18. grind： 磨，磨碎。

19. particle： 颗粒，微粒；pound： 重击；abrade： 研磨。

20. grinded成为了固定的体育用语：它常用来形容橄榄球运动员，尤其是跑卫，说“他们今天跑出了一场胜利”。hard-nosed： 顽固的；running back：跑锋，跑卫，是美式足球（橄榄球）持球跑动进攻的球员。

21. variant： 变体。

22. idiomatic： 惯用的；come into play：发挥作用。

23. plunge into： 投入，跳进。