GIW Home
Tip Archive
Back to Tip List03/19/01: "Drug/Dragged" and "Loan/Lend"
Can you tell which sentences correctly use "drug," "dragged," "loan," or "lend"?
1. She dragged me to the doctor last week because I had been sick for such a long time.
2. Until she was four years old, my daughter drug her blanket behind her everywhere she went.
3. We went to the bank to ask the manager to loan us $500,000.
4. Sharon agreed to lend me a hand next weekend as I pack to move.
Sentence 1 uses "dragged" correctly as the past tense of the verb "to drag." Sentence 2 uses "drug," which would never be appropriate in business writing or in other formal writing contexts. The sentence should read "my daughter dragged her blanket behind her." "Drug" can be a verb, but only when it describes the action of intoxicating someone (or oneself) with a narcotic.
If you thought that "loan" was incorrect in sentence 3, you are not alone. However, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.) explains that "loan" is "entirely standard as a verb" and has been for hundreds of years. Webster's acknowledges, however, that many people insist on using "loan" only as a noun:
We went to the bank to ask the manager for a $500,000 loan.
Technically, then, both sentences 3 and 4 are correct, but to play it safe, use "lend" as the verb, rather than "loan," since many readers are likely to regard the usage in sentence 3 as an error. Using the more universally accepted verb, therefore, we would write the sentence this way:
We went to the bank to ask the manager to lend us $500,000.
Webster's goes on to note that we should always choose "lend" over "loan" when speaking figuratively, as in sentence 4 above and in the following example:
When someone in our office has a personal problem, Bob is always willing to lend an ear.
TEST YOURSELF:
Has the writer of these sentences made the best choices between "drug" and "dragged" or "lend" and "loan"?
1. My teenage children frequently ask me to loan them money for new clothes.
2. The doctor planned to drug the patient before starting the procedure.
3. After working late for three nights in a row, Jane drug herself into the office to make her presentation on Friday morning.
4. The rug did not look good in the dining room, so we drug it into the living room.
5. I knew that we had bills to pay, but I dragged my feet when it came time to ask my parents to lend us money.
ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S TEST ON USING THE CORRECT VERB IN SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH "HERE" AND "THERE"
Questions:
1. Here's the list of addresses you asked me to compile.
2. There is a casserole, a fruit salad, and a lemon pie in the refrigerator.
3. There is not enough hours in the day for me to complete my work.
4. Here's the top ten reasons for subscribing to the Get It Write tip-of-the-week service.
Answers:
1. CORRECT [The subject is the singular word "list," not "addresses," which is the object of the preposition "of."]
2. There ARE a casserole, a fruit salad, and a lemon pie [Three items are in the refrigerator. The sentence would be even better, though, if we recast it: "A casserole, a fruit salad, and a lemon pie are in the refrigerator."]
3. There ARE not enough hours [This sentence could also be more concise: "I do not have enough hours in each day to complete my work."]
4. Here ARE the top ten reasons
GIW Home | Most Recent Tip | Subscribe | Books | Contact