| 词组 | hang, hanged, hung |
| 释义 | hang, hanged, hung One of the more widely known and frequently repeated observations on usage is that hanged is preferred as the past and past participle of hang when the verb has the sense "to hang by the neck until dead" and that hung is the correct choice for all other senses of the word. This distinction arose out of the complex history of hang. The OED shows that hang developed from two Old English verbs, one of which was a weak (or, in effect, regular) verb giving rise to the inflected form hanged, and the other of which was a strong (or, in effect, irregular) verb giving rise to hung. (These verbs, Lamberts 1972 tells us, were originally a transitive-intransitive pair, like set-sit, lay-lie, that eventually fell together as a single verb.) The two forms were more or less interchangeable for many centuries, but the weak form was eventually superseded by the strong form except in the "execute by hanging" sense, in which hanged probably persisted because it was the form favored by judges in pronouncing sentence. Even in the "execute" sense, however, the strong form made inroads: • ... for these rogues that burned this house to be hung in some conspicuous place in town —Samuel Pepys, diary, 4 July 1667 • ... to-day I am laid by the heels, and to-morrow shall be hung by the neck —George Farquhar, The Constant Couple, 1699 • ... should not escape unpunished. I hope he hung himself —Jane Austen, letter, 6 Dec. 1815 • These men were ... at last brought to the scaffold and hung —Percy Bysshe Shelley, Address, 1817 (OED) • I have not the least objection to a rogue being hung —W. M. Thackeray, The New comes, 1853 (cited by Otto Jespersen, S.P.E. Tract 25, 1926) In 1898, the OED noted that writers and speakers in southern England often used hung in this sense. The distinction between hanged and hung has been a topic for commentary since Joseph Priestley first broached the subject in 1769. The issue was raised by only a few writers in the 19th century, but 20th-century commentators have taken up the cause wholeheartedly, and almost all books on usage now include some mention of hanged and hung. The primary concern of the critics is that hung should not be used in the "execute" sense, or that such use should at least be avoided in formal writing. Many commentators recognize that hung for hanged is now common in standard English, but more than a few persist in describing it as an error, pure and simple. Our evidence shows that hung for hanged is certainly not an error. Educated speakers and writers use it commonly and have for many years: • ... that if he was hung he would plant flowers on his grave —James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 • The negro murderer was to be hung on a Saturday without pomp —William Faulkner, Sanctuary, 1931 • ... soldiers convicted of appalling crimes are being hung and shot —Times Literary Supp., 29 Nov. 1941 • ... a man in jail just about to be hung —William Faulkner, 13 May 1957, in Faulkner in the University, 1959 .. insists that IRA terrorists can be hung by the law now —Noyes Thomas, News of the World (London), 24 Nov. 1974 • ... a 13-year-old evangelist, who hung himself because his mother spanked him for sassing her — Flannery O'Connor, letter, 23 Apr. 1960 • Placed in solitary he hung himself —Horace Sutton, Saturday Rev., 1 Mar. 1980 Hanged is, however, more common than hung in writing. It is especially prevalent when an official execution is being described, but it is used in referring to other types of hanging as well: • ... that he might be put on his trial and hanged — James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 • ... I dreamed that we hanged The Informer — Ernest Hemingway, "Miss Mary's Lion," 1956 • Nobody is hanged for stealing bread any more — William Faulkner, 15 Feb. 1957, in Faulkner in the University, 1959 • After a long investigation and trial, Dr. John Webster ... was hanged for Parkman's murder —John Thompson, Harper's, October 1971 • ... were promptly hanged outside the Portcullis Gate —John Updike, Bech Is Back, 1982 • ... he had fled Europe ... to avoid being hanged — Russell Baker, N.Y. Times Mag., 15 Feb. 1976 • ... was found hanged in his family's home —Lena Williams, N.Y. Times, 23 Feb. 1984 Hanged also occurs in several old-fashioned idiomatic expressions in which hung is not possible: • But equally I'm hanged if I want to be bullied by it —Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, 1920 • I'll be hanged if I'll be mournful —Peter B. Kyne, The Pride of Palomar, 1921 But hung is more likely than hanged when the hanging described is in effigy: • George Washington, kidnapped, and hung (in effigy) — Time, 4 Mar. 1946 • ... by morning I'll be hung in effigy —Ronald Reagan, quoted by William Safire, N. Y. Times Mag., 8 Mar. 1981 • Local feelings ran so strong against the plan that Eddie and I were booed out of the town hall in Eastham and were hung in effigy in Truro —Tip O'Neill with William Novak, Man of the House, 1987 And E. Bagby Atwood's A Survey of Verb Forms in the Eastern United States (1953) found that in speech "hung ... predominates in all areas and among all types [of informants considered with respect to age and level of education]." The distinction between hanged and hung is not an especially useful one (although a few commentators claim otherwise). It is, however, a simple one and certainly easy to remember. Therein lies its popularity. If you make a point of observing the distinction in your writing, you will not thereby become a better writer, but you will spare yourself the annoyance of being corrected for having done something that is not wrong. |
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