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英语语法：175 Hanged Versus Hung

时间：2010-07-03 02:57:54

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（单词翻译）

Grammar Girl here.

I know I promised that the next episode would be about apostrophes, but Zach wrote in with a grammar emergency tied to the execution of Saddam Hussein. I'm sure we all realize there are more important aspects to this story than reporters fouling1 up their language, but still, in Grammar Girl Land, we like to work these things out. So today's topic is hung versus2 hanged.

Zach said he was taught that curtains are hung and people are hanged, and he is correct. It's not quite that cut-and-dried*—some of my reference books say hung isn't wrong, just less customary, when referring to past executions, and the Random3 House Unabridged Dictionary says that hung is becoming more common—but the majority of my books agree that the standard English word is hanged when you are talking about killing4 people by dangling5 them from a rope. Therefore, it's correct to say that Saddam Hussein was hanged in Baghdad on Saturday, December 30, 2006.

It seemed a little curious to me that there would be two past-tense forms of the word hang that differ depending on their meaning, so I did a little research and found out that in Old English there were two different words for hang (hon and hangen), and the entanglement6 of these words (plus an Old Norse word hengjan) is responsible for there being two past-tense forms of the word hang today (1).

That's all. You can find the Grammar Girl website at QuickAndDirtyTips.com and send questions and comments to... or by calling 206-338-GIRL (4475). Thanks for listening.
 


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1 fouling 51c8adea6ef6cc2e33d171f8ae739b2d     
n.（水管、枪筒等中的）污垢v.使污秽( foul的现在分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏
参考例句：
  • He was sent off for fouling the other team's goalkeeper. 他因对对方守门员犯规而被罚出场。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A basketball player is allowed five personal fouls before fouling out. 篮球运动员侵人犯规五次即被罚下场。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
2 versus wi7wU     
prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下
参考例句：
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
3 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句：
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
4 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财
参考例句：
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
5 dangling 4930128e58930768b1c1c75026ebc649     
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口
参考例句：
  • The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
  • The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。
6 entanglement HoExt     
n.纠缠，牵累
参考例句：
  • This entanglement made Carrie anxious for a change of some sort.这种纠葛弄得嘉莉急于改变一下。
  • There is some uncertainty about this entanglement with the city treasurer which you say exists.对于你所说的与市财政局长之间的纠葛,大家有些疑惑。

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