Some Challenging Verbs

A verb is the main part of any true complete sentence; it’s the word that describes an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. As important as this part of speech is, verbs are often used incorrectly. Following are some common errors.

can versus may

Here’s a real-life example:  A girl raised her hand and asked the teacher: Can I go to the bathroom? The teacher’s reply said it all: You ought to be able to.

“Can” means to be able to or to have the ability, power or skill to do something (e.g., I can carve wood. I can ride a bicycle.).

“May” is used to express a possibility, an opportunity, permission or a contingency (e.g., It may rain this afternoon. I may go to the movies. Let me speak if I may.). So the girl in the example above should have asked: May I go to the bathroom?

Here’s another variation of this error. An interviewer (Alice) asked the following question of a man in a group of people about to be interviewed: John, I’ll start with you if I could. Since Alice was experienced, and since these people had already agreed to be interviewed, one would think that Alice had the ability (could is simply the past tense of can). What Alice was really asking for was polite permission to begin with John. Therefore, the correct sentence should have been: John, I’ll start with you if I may.

lend versus loan

This is a tough pair or words to pull apart for “correct” usage. Lend is always a verb (past tense: lent), while loan (in certain circumstances) can be a noun or a verb (past tense: loaned). Most of the verb distinctions depend on whether they’re being used formally or informally, or whether one is talking about material objects or something figurative.

• lend as a verb—These sentences follow what’s called “the British rule” (e.g., Will you lend me a pen? He lent me his pen.)
• loan as a noun—Example: The bank gave me a loan.
• loan as a verb—Examples: Will you loan me some money? He loaned me some money. These two sentences follow what’s called “the American rule” (where loan has come to be used as an alternative for lend). While these two sentences may be marginally acceptable for things like money and objects, the wording sounds unpolished. It just sounds better to ask: Will you lend me some money? He lent me some money.

The difference between lend and loan as verbs becomes more apparent when discussing a figure of speech. For example, in the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, Mark Antony opens his speech about Caesar with the line Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. This would sound extremely strange as Friends, Romans, Countrymen, loan me your ears. For the past tense, it’s right to say The fog lent (gave) an interesting dimension to the scene, but The fog loaned an interesting dimension to the scene is clearly wrong.

So, while there’s no hard-and-fast rule, if you want to play it safe, abide by the traditional British “rule”: use lend as a verb and loan as a noun. Quick trick: Remember that lend and verb both have an e in them, while loan and noun both have an o in them. You may occasionally want to use loan as a verb, but if you don’t know who your audience will be, it’s advisable to reserve loan as a noun.

shrank versus shrunk

This error is really common—one sees and hears it all the time. It probably started earlier, but it certainly gained traction with the movie “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Shrunk is the past participle of shrink, which means that it needs to be preceded by an auxiliary verb (e.g., have, has, had, be, am, is, are, was, were). The simple past tense of shrink is shrank. So the correct movie title should have been “Honey, I Shrank the Kids”. Using shrunk, the title would have to have been “Honey, I’ve (I have) shrunk the kids”. Other common examples of this structure include: drink, drank, drunk; sink, sank, sunk; ring, rang, rung; sing, sang, sung; and stink, stank, stunk. However, there are exceptions. For example, the past tense of the verb string (as in to string some lights) is not strang (that would be strange). Both the past tense and the past participle of string are strung (e.g., He strung some lights. He has strung some lights). Likewise with slink, slank, slunk—slank is an archaic past tense; slunk is the currently accepted form.

Singular versus plural verb form

The following sentence is wrong: The group of bananas were rotten. The problem is thinking that the subject of the verb is bananas, when, in fact, it’s group. The words of bananas make up a prepositional phrase defining what kind of group is being discussed. Therefore, the correct sentence is: The group of bananas was rotten. The same would be true of this sentence: The shipload of bananas have arrived. Again, the subject of the verb is not bananas; it’s shipload. Corrected, the sentence reads: The shipload of bananas has arrived. Here’s another one: Neither of those options are available. The problem with this sentence is that a word is left out, as is sometimes done in English. The sentence, in full, would read: Neither ONE of those options are available. Now it’s easy to see that ONE of those options IS not available. So, correctly: Neither of those options is available.

try and

This pair of words represents a longstanding problem, which has gotten worse over the decades, and has, sadly, become very common. It’s wrong to say: One should try and write better. Here’s why. The word try requires a preposition, not a conjunction. The sentence, as shown, implies two actions: 1) One should try AND 2) One should write better. This is most often not the intent of the speaker or writer. The sentence should read: One should try to write better. A good way to to test whether to use and or to is to substitute a synonym for try, and then use that word in front of and. For example, insert the word attempt in the first sentence above: One should attempt and write better. Sound weird? It should read: One should attempt to write better.

A variation of this usage is go on and (e.g., They will probably go on and become famous). The sentence likely is not intended to convey two thoughts—going on AND becoming famous. It’s probably intended to mean that the people referred to will move forward in some way that will make them persons of renown. So, the sentence should read: They will probably go on to become famous.

was versus were (subjunctive mood)

An unfortunately common error, both in writing and speech, is the use of the singular past tense of the verb to be (was), instead of the correct subjunctive mood (were). The subjunctive form of verbs is typically used to express a hypothetical action or a condition contrary to fact. These include emotions, possibility, subjectivity, supposition, doubt, wishing, hoping, judgment, opinion, demand, statements of necessity, and recommendation. Examples:

In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye does not sing “If I was a rich man…”.
He sings “If I were a rich man…”.

In The Wizard of Oz, the Lion does not sing “If I was king of the forest…”.
He sings “If I were king of the forest…”.

The subjunctive is also used after verbs such as: propose, ask, request, suggest, recommend, insist, command, demand—followed by the word that (e.g., The boss suggests that you be on time for the meeting). It’s also used after expressions such as: it’s desirable, essential, important, necessary, vital—followed by the word that (e.g., It’s essential that you be at the session.)

The structure of the subjunctive is simple:

a) For the present tense of the verb — the subjunctive is the same as the infinitive (to something) without the word to. Examples:

Will all representatives please take [to take] a seat. It’s important that we vote [to take] on that recommendation. The doctor said it’s critical that he walk [to walk; not walks]every day. It’s very important that you be [to be] on time. It’s essential that only fresh ingredients be [to be; not are] used.

b) For the past tense of the verb — the subjunctive only affects the verb to be, which is irregular and causes the most problems. Where a non-subjunctive sentence might use was or were, a subjunctive sentence always uses were. Examples:

If I were [not was] you, I’d tell the truth. I wish I were [not was] taller. If our home were [not was] closer to the city, we’d go into town more often. His explanation, as it were [not was], sounded more like a lie.

There are also a number of common expressions that use the subjunctive. For example: So be it. Heaven help us! Heaven forbid! God bless America! God rest ye merry, gentlemen. Be that as it may, … .  Come what may, … .

went versus gone

Here are some examples: You should have went for it. I wish we had went to the movies instead. To the trained ear, this error sounds terrible. It’s as if these speakers never heard of the word gone.

First of all, went, as the past tense of go, does not have an auxiliary verb in front (see next paragraph). Examples: He went home. They went to the movies. I wonder where the summer went.

On the other hand, gone, the past participle of go, must have an auxiliary verb in front (e.g., have, has, had, be, am, is, are, was, were). Sometimes the auxiliary verb appears as a contraction (e.g., I have becomes I’ve, he has becomes he’s, they had becomes they’d). Examples: They’ve gone fishing. He has left. She’s gone home. By the time I got there, he’d gone. She was gone, and could not be found. I got home in the late Fall, and by then the leaves were gone.

Conclusion

Much more could be written on this topic, but hopefully, this short post will make you pay more careful attention to how you use verbs. When in doubt, consult any decent grammar book or the Internet.

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