英语语法：175 Hanged Versus Hung

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.
 

1 fouling   

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   

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   

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   

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   

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   

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。