Oct 28, 2008

loan v. lend

This is something I did not know. Lent is the past tense of lend. Loaned is the past tense of loan. I always hesitated at lent, believing loaned was proper. Lend-lent has a bring-brang, mend-ment tend-tent, feel to me, I don't know why--it's not like there isn't send-sent, bend-bent, rend-rent, or that I thought lend-lended was right. But loan, the verb, is historically incorrect (although it's considered correct in the US now). Here are the rules, from bartleby.com:

USAGE NOTE: The verb loan is well established in American usage and cannot be considered incorrect. The frequent objections to the form by American grammarians may have originated from a provincial deference to British critics, who long ago labeled the usage a typical Americanism. Loan is, however, used to describe only physical transactions, as of money or goods; for figurative transactions, lend is correct: Distance lends enchantment. The allusions lend the work a classical tone.

Happy Tuesdays, all.

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