Friday, June 13, 2014

stood/stayed: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, June 13–15, 2014

stood/stayed
In standard English, “stayed” is the past tense of “stay,” and “stood” is the past tense of “stand.” If you speak a dialect which uses “stood” for the past tense of “stayed” and want to switch to standard usage, try changing your sentence to the present tense to check: “I stood still” becomes “I stand still.” But “I stood up past midnight” becomes “I stay up,” not “I stand up.” So you should say “I stayed up past midnight” and “I stayed in the best hotel in town.”
The popular saying “I shoulda stood in bed” conjures up an amusing image, but it’s not a model for standard usage.

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "'Both,' 'neither,' 'either,' and the slippery plural" (November 26, 2012).

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