English... is a funny language

[Wynd Lehane]

I have always wondered about this and have read many different books where the answer is different so I thought I would ask my peers.

What is the past tense of 'to wake' ?

Is it woke, waked, awoke?

Or is awoke a whole different verb? And if so, is 'awoke' in its present tense or past tense?

I woke up.
I waked up.
I awoke.

[Mackenzie Holden]

It depends on the tense. There are different past tenses...

Past perfect (pluperfect).
Imperfect


And another one...

I have awoken.
I did wake up.
I woke up.

I've never used the word "waked" because it doesn't sound right to me... plus I've always been told that it's wrong.

I don't know if I'm completely right, but that's how it is in Spanish at least.

[Ariane Chan]

Personally I go for 'I woke up', and now and again 'I awoke', but I don't know if the two are different. Like Mack, I just don't use 'awaked', it sounds wrong. Can't really help with this even though I am an English Language student; it's silly we don't cover this area.

[Katya Love S5]

Americans hardly cover Grammar in school. Hence why we completely butcher it as we talk.

We don't speak English, sadly, we speak American.

[izumi]

English language is amazing for me. Particularly i think this for tenses. Its confused my head with some tenses that i had learned before for a long time. Actually its are still confused me. *grins*

[Wynd Lehane]

English is a tough language. The tenses don't seem to follow any rules and if they do, there are always exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions.

Okay. From now on, I'll use 'woke.' I'm still confused as to when you use 'wake' opposed to 'awake' though.

Awake is an adjective as in: 'He is awake' ...awake modifying the subject 'he'

So is 'awoke' a verb or just a word that Americans made up?

[amberr]

"awoke" is a verb and used mostly in books and such. it's not something we would say in everyday talk.

"I awoke this morning to see my cat..." yeah we don't talk like that very often.

It is used though and it is proper. If we do use it, it'll be "woke" as in "I woke up"

I was always taught that "waked" was wrong...

[Septimus Uldor G1]

ye, waked sounds wrong to me. I've always used "I woke up". Awoke isnt common at all.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Awoke is an actual word. It's correct English.

I don't know what you all are saying about it not being common, though. Everyone here uses awoke when they talk.

"I awoke around 4 last night because my stupid freaking dog was yowling at my dumb door!" - Beth today during lunch.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Wow, do you really?

Awoke is correct English, but kinda Shakespearean in my view...

We'd be more likely to say something like 'I woke up at around/about 4 o' clock', I think.

[Robert Knight R5]

It might also depend on where you live. I have a couple friends from other parts of the country and sometimes they say something that sounds kind of odd or old fashioned to us. We always laugh and they say that when they first moved here, they found that the way we speak is kind of simple. I'll have to ask my friend who has lived in 7 different states (her dad was in the army) and see what she says. Then again, I also say things differently when I'm writing than when I'm talking.

To quote my Japanese teacher : "Ingrish is so hard! There are too many sounds and rurles and 'eceptions! It's not even phrenetic rike in Japanese!" It's soo funny cause everyone's name sounds funny in Japanese. My Japanese teacher calls my friend Holly, Horry since there are no l's in Japanese; they replace them with a sound that's more of an 'r' than an 'l'.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Well, I've lived in a lot of states and in nearly every region of this country lol. And I can say that it does depend a lot on where you live. Down here people tend to speak a bit... more elegantly... which sounds odd considering I'm in Kentucky and the stereotype of that is a hillbilly. But that is what it is. I think it might just be my school, though, too. We're taught to speak a certain way because they want us to sound the way we write. *nods*

[Wynd Lehane]

How about this one? What is the past tense of 'to raise' ?

I think both 'rose' and 'raised' are correct but they are used to refer to different things. But I could be wrong. That's why I'm asking.

[Mackenzie Holden]

There is also arose... which is what I use lol.

"He arose from his chair..."

"He rose from his chair..."

"He raised his chair up..."

It all depends on what the action is. If you are rising, then it's rose... if you are raising something it's raised.

To raise - raised.

To rise - rose/arose.

Different infinitives, I think.

[Wynd Lehane]

That makes sense.

'To Rise' would be a reflexive verb meaning involving yourself

While 'To Raise' needs an object