July 14, 2010

Ms. Grammarian Leads The Way

Okay, everyone, listen up. You over there, I need your attention.

It's time somebody spoke up about the correct forms of the verb "lead." This is a lovely word with very few quirks, but so many people misspell the past tense form that I'm having to say something. When teaching irregular verbs to young teens, I would use the following sentences to help out:

Today I _____.
Yesterday I _____.
I have _____.

When we use the verb "lead" (pronounced LEED) in spoken form, we use all its forms correctly: lead, led, have led. But in writing, I see it repeatedly written in the past tense as "lead." When "lead" is pronounced LED, it is a noun. So:

Today I lead.
Yesterday I led.
I have led.

Please pass it on.

Grammatically yours,

2 comments:

Vic Mansfield said...

Yes, that may all be true, but I still haven't gotten the lie, lay lain, (or whatever it is) thing down yet.

Next lesson?

rox said...

OMG while you're at it, could you teach people about your and you're? And their, they're, and there? Facebook drives me crazy with all the grammatical errors and I don't even know half the rules!

I don't think I know the lay, lie, laid lesson either...I went to three different schools in Grade 7.