Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

"Sang" is the simple past: "He sang at our wedding last year", "They sang
carols round the Christmas tree as soon as the light were turned on".

"Sung" is the past/perfect participle: "I have never sung that before",
"When they had sung the last piece, they went home".

"Sung" can also be used, as can most part/perfect participles, as if it were
an adjective: "This piece, often sung at weddings, is actually rather too
difficult for the amateurs who attempt it".

A common mistake is to use "sung" for the simple past, where "sung" is
required.

It might help if you remembered where you need "ran" and "run", since they
work in the same way as "sang" and "sung" but are not often confused.

Alan Jones

"Sang" is the usual past tense for "sing."  "Sung" is sometimes used for
the past tense, but that use is found "now rarely" (Chambers), so much so
that many dictionaries (e.g., COD10) don't list it.  "Sung" is always right
as the past participle.

She sang for her supper.
She said that she had sung for her supper

You don't specify which usage you prefer (of the British v. the US usage).
I speak using a fairly standard US usage.

sink, sing, drink.

I sang for my father.  I have, however, sung for my mother.  The song being
sung (passive voice) is "Rock of Ages".  Also (though not in my usage):  I
sung for my father.

As early as 1969,  American Heritage Dictionary recognized "sung" as an
alternate to "sang", for the simple past tense, or preterite.  (I object to
this, but I find with dismay that it (sung) is growing more common as time
goes by.  Ditto for  "sunk", only more so.  It seems that CNN announcers
have some kind of style sheet for pronunciations and word choices, for I
never hear any of them say "the boat sank", but always "it
sunk".)

For "drunk" as simple past tense, AMH has it as obsolete, but still as a
variant.  In the US it is considered slovenly usage, and "ungrammatical".

A freebie:  I detest using "sunk, sung, drunk" as the simple past tense
forms.  On the other hand,  when it comes to saying that something stinks,
in the past tense, I find myself saying "It stunk", rather than  "It stank".
M-W Online has "stank" as the first variant, usually interpreted as
preferred.  However, a person in my family and conversational group would
cause eyebrows to go up if he were to say "It stank".

M-W Online reflects similar usage patterns to those of AmHD.  On the other
hand,  "spin", as in another thread, does not apparently have any alternate
to "spun" as simple past tense, according to M-W Online.