{"id":3076,"date":"2019-03-12T23:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=3076"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:33:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T22:33:00","slug":"ill-be-hanged-or-have-i-just-gone-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/ill-be-hanged-or-have-i-just-gone-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ll Be Hanged! Or, Have I Just Gone Missing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GONE MISSING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several readers responded to our recent article\u00a0The Media Made Me Do It<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0which asked for alternatives to\u00a0gone missing<\/em>. Interestingly, the overwhelming choice was to simply replace the phrase with\u00a0is missing<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0has been missing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is fine in many, perhaps most, cases, e.g.,\u00a0The man was missing<\/em>\u00a0instead of\u00a0The man went missing<\/em>. But it\u2019s no help at all in sentences such as\u00a0The man went missing two days ago<\/em>. For such sentences, readers suggested\u00a0has been missing since Monday<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0was discovered to be missing on Friday, March 8<\/em>. Otherwise, we have few options other than\u00a0disappeared<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0vanished<\/em>, which, as Tom Stern pointed out, sounds as if the man in question were more the victim of a magic trick than a potential tragedy.<\/p>\n

One reader mentioned running across an expression even worse than\u00a0gone missing<\/em>\u2014showed up missing<\/em>. Now there\u2019s an oxymoron for you.<\/p>\n

A few people asked what\u2019s wrong with\u00a0gone missing<\/em>? It makes perfect sense to them. And likely to many others.<\/p>\n

We wish to thank all of you for your suggestions. You’ve provided some useful alternatives.<\/p>\n

HANG IT ALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speakers and writers who value precision know that the past tense of\u00a0hang<\/em>, when it means \u201cto put to death using a rope,\u201d is\u00a0hanged<\/em>, rather than\u00a0hung<\/em>. This applies to both the active and passive voice:\u00a0They hanged the prisoner<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The prisoner was hanged<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For inanimate objects, use\u00a0hung<\/em>. Under unusual conditions, people also\u00a0hung<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0are hung<\/em>, e.g.,\u00a0He hung from the tree with one hand<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0He found himself hung upside down<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Select the correct word for each sentence.<\/p>\n

1. We hung\/hanged the stockings by the chimney with care.<\/p>\n

2. The angry mob hung\/hanged the outlaw Gomer Dooley.<\/p>\n

3. The disgraced prime minister was hung\/hanged from a lamppost in the town square.<\/p>\n

4. An effigy of the prime minister was hung\/hanged from a lamppost in the town square.<\/p>\n

5. The man hung\/hanged from the rafters with a rope around his waist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. We\u00a0hung<\/strong>\u00a0the stockings by the chimney with care.<\/p>\n

2. The angry mob\u00a0hanged<\/strong>\u00a0the outlaw Gomer Dooley.<\/p>\n

3. The disgraced prime minister was\u00a0hanged<\/strong>\u00a0from a lamppost in the town square.<\/p>\n

4. An effigy of the prime minister was\u00a0hung<\/strong>\u00a0from a lamppost in the town square.<\/p>\n

5. The man\u00a0hung<\/strong>\u00a0from the rafters with a rope around his waist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GONE MISSING Several readers responded to our recent article\u00a0The Media Made Me Do It,\u00a0which asked for alternatives to\u00a0gone missing. Interestingly, the overwhelming choice was to simply replace the phrase with\u00a0is missing\u00a0or\u00a0has been missing. This is fine in many, perhaps most, cases, e.g.,\u00a0The man was missing\u00a0instead of\u00a0The man went missing. But it\u2019s no help at all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}