Posts By Email
Grab The RSSPrincipal Parts of the Verb TO FIT
Reader Barry Kemp has a question about fit:
One thing that has puzzled me for a while is the use of the word “fit”. It’s quite clear when one reads that “the new rug was a perfect fit in the apartment” But what is the rule for the past tense? We often read something like “it was a long stuggle but in the end he fit the pieces together” or “she slipped it on and the suit fit her perfectly” It is quite clear these sentences are past tense so why do we not use the past tense “fitted”?
This is one of those puzzles created by the differences between British and American usage.
British usage: fit, fit, (have) fitted
American usage: fit, fit, (have) fit
Other verbs that differ in this way are bet, get, and quit.
Americans say bet-bet-bet, get-got-gotten and quit-quit-quit.
British speakers say get-got-got and quit-quitted-quitted. They take their choice with bet and say either bet-bet-bet or bet-betted-betted.
Related Articles
Share
Join Over 50,000 Email Subscribers and Get a Free eBook!
- Subscribe to DailyWritingTips.com via email and you'll be able to download our ebook, "Basic English Grammar."
- You will also get all our writing tips delivered to your email inbox, completely free!
- The download link will go along with the first email (you might need to wait up to 24 hours).
3 Responses to “Principal Parts of the Verb TO FIT”
Have something to say?
Popular Articles
- 40 Yiddish Words You Should Know
- 10 Rules for Writing Numbers
- Vocabulary Test 1
- Passed vs Past
- Writing a Reference Letter
- Creative Writing 101
- 44 Resume Writing Tips
- Among vs. Amongst
- 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know
- Let the Word Do the Work
- How to Format a US Business Letter
- That vs. Which
- 50 Incorrect Pronunciations To Avoid
- The Writing Process
- Inquire vs. Enquire
- 25 Pieces of Writing Software
- 12 Greek Words You Should Know
- Cannot or Can Not?
- What Does Sic Mean?
- 100 Small But Expressive Interjections
- Wether, Weather, Whether
- 34 Writing Tips To Write Better
- Yours Faithfully or Yours Sincerely?
- Latin Words and Expressions
- Grammar Test 1
- Program vs. Programme
- Writing Prompts 101
- 7 Essay Writing Tips To Ace Your Exam
- What Is Irony? (With Examples)
- 100 Beautiful and Ugly Words
- 7 Grammatical Errors That Aren't
British usage: fit, fit, (have) fitted
Make that fit, fitted, (have) fitted.
Not sure if this is the place to put this comment, but what happened to the punctuation?
Your choice of the sentence:
“the new rug was a perfect fit in the apartment”
in order to discuss the verb “fit” is incorrect.
In the example you give, “FIT” is a noun.
Your subsequent sentences do show verbs.