Hanged vs. Hung (Yes, there’s a difference)
I had someone request hanged vs. hung because he was fed up with people using them improperly. It seems a lot of people don’t even realize that hanged is a word and has its own merits. So if you’re writing a paper where you think you are going to need to know the difference between hanged and hung, keep reading.
Hung
This seems to be the troublesome word. Most people think it’s simply a past tense form of “hang” and thus use it in every retrospect. That is not the case. Hung is proper when you’re not referring to the act of killing a person via “hanging.” For example, you can say “He hung the painting in the living room.” Notice that does not deal with a person’s death but rather a simple act of hanging.
So what’s “hanged?”
Remember how I said hung didn’t refer to killing someone through a hanging? Guess what this word does! You got it. Hanged is used only as the past tense form for killing someone through hanging. For example, “In the past, it was popular to have people hanged.” You would not use hung in this case. If you see in a newspaper that a journalist uses hung in this case, be sure to write a letter–because it would be wrong!
Good luck!
But WHY is there a difference? Why is “hanged” used solely for the execution method? Is it truly proper, or have we merely adopted the improper use over time because irregular verbs weren’t as common in the “olden days”?
That’s a great question Jennifer. In Old English, there used to be two forms of the word “hang,” hon and hangen (Thanks to Grammar Girl for the specific two words). As English has evolved, we’ve maintained those two different “forms” for the past tense, even though the present tensed has merged into “hang.” Hope that answers your question!
Yes, that makes it a lot clearer. I suspected it was because of something like that.
Is there any difference in the use of “hang” or “hung” depending on the usage of “have” or “has?” I remember in elementary school a teacher mentioning the use of “hung” only with the use of a form of “has” or “have” preceding. It doesn’t seem to come up using any search engines leading me to believe the teacher was making it up because she didn’t really know the distinction of when to use “hang” or “hung.”
Actually, you can use “has” or “have” with both hanged and hung. Both of these words function as the simple past and the past participle of “hang.”
For example, “(Insert name of a country) has hanged three people in response to (whatever).” I’m leaving it a little vague to prevent anything inflammatory
You can also use it with “hung.” For example, “She has hung several pictures in her room.”
If you’re interested in the “down and dirty” of it, these functions as “perfect aspects.” Essentially that means you use a form of “to have” with a past participle verb–since both “hung” and “hanged” work as both the simple past AND the past participle, the same applies here.
If you want to go absolutely insane and wrack your brain over it, you can find out more about perfect aspects at the wiki page found here. I hope this helped. Thanks for commenting, and good luck!
What if a person is crucified or is hanging, but not from the neck, would they be hung on a cross or hanged on a cross (with out a rope around their neck)?
Excellent question! After some research, I have discovered that when you are referring to a crucifixion, you use the word hung, not hanged. While they are both executions, when one is hanged, death occurs extremely shortly after. When one is hung on a crucifix, death is not as immediately imminent. Forgive me for how uncaring this seems, but much like a picture on a wall is hanging for an undefined time, so is one on a crucifix–whereas with a hanging, the victim goes up and comes down shortly after.
It seems “hanged” is only appropriate when a rope is used.
Thanks, and good luck!
I am ooberly mad at this i have always known that there was a difference and what it was. even when i was young. but today in history class we talked about it and my teacher said she was hung. i sais it is suppossed to be hung, the class laughed and every body thought i was sooo dumb. so i was the only one out of 30 students and a teacher that knew thiss that just goes to show you teacherss are completely uneducated and how meaningless those stupid classes are if the teacher doesnt even know what shes talking about.
Not everyone studies English extensively. It’s unfair to judge all educators based on the experience of one. Are there bad teachers and professors out there? Absolutely. However, judging everyone based on that one experience is wrong. I could judge you and claim that you, too, are uneducated because you use sentence fragments, do not capitalize etc. Would you appreciate that? Probably not. Would you feel that I judged you wrongly? Probably. While I won’t delete your comment, let’s please make sure to remain polite on this site.
The song Why Can’t the English? (from My Fair Lady) contains the line “…..she should be taken out and hung for the cold blooded murder of the English tongue”; I vaguely remember a televised inteview with Alan Lerner in which he acknowledged that he had elected to use hung knowing that it was not correct because it rhymed with tongue; he had hoped that no one would notice; he then related that the first critic he encountered after opening night of My Fair Lady looked up at him and said only something along the line of “the word is hanged”.
I love that song! Thanks for the info!
Great info! So, what about the words “proven” and “proved?” I’ve started to come across the word “proved” lately in my current events reading, which really bothers me. I didn’t even know “proved” was a legitimate word until I looked it up. Is there a difference?
Actually, yes, there is a difference between “proved” and “proven.” Proved is, unquestionably, the simple past tense form of “prove.” However, the mix-up tends to happen when thinking of the past participle. Either word is acceptable in past participle, although preference is determined through American/British English forms.
For example, “She has proved her worth in the workplace.” Or, “She has proven her worth in the workplace.”
Other than American English vs. British English, there is another prominent difference between the two–namely, “proven” can be an adjective. This is most commonly used with “is” as the verb: “Her merit is proven through years of dedication.” Note here that “proven” is modifying “merit” and not “is.”
Hope that helps!