Okay, the "past tense" version of plead: pled or pleaded? I favor pled! Here is a sample of a story about soldiers pleading (present tense) guilty to wetting their beaks during the war. "The guilty pleas are the latest cases to arise from bribery allegations involving U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. At least six other soldiers have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison." Damn I can't get past this! It's fucking PLED guilty...PLED for the love of God! What say you WordForge?
The AP Stylebook says "pleaded" and considers "pled" to be colloquial, which is why most news stories will say "pleaded." Similar words are divided. On the one hand, "bleed" and "bled," "lead" and "led," "feed" and "fed." On the other hand, "seed" and "seeded," "deed" and "deeded." (Though maybe those have something to do with the other formula being too easy to confuse with "said" or "dead"?)
I googled it, and 65 percent of people agreed "pled" should be used versus "pleaded." I also have reservations about "lit" versus "lighted." "Hanged" versus "hung" upsets me too.
No, "plead" is IMO the future tense. Here is an example: "I will plead guilty at the hearing tomorrow." Pleading is present tense "I am pleading guilty at the present time" but "I plead guilty at the present time" would suffice. "I pled guilty yesterday at my hearing" would be past tense. Pled should be used just like "bled" should be the past tense of bleed. "I shot the deer, and it bled out within thirty seconds." Nobody I know would say "the deer bleeded out" or people would think they are idiots.
You're confusing simple vs. continuous with past vs. present vs. future. I will be pleading guilty tomorrow, but I plead innocent today.
Well there's your problem right there! You are expecting rationality and respect for rules from a language that will have none of that.
Now, has anyone else noticed the BritCanadAustraGodSaveTheQueen use of "burnt" rather than "burned" creeping into American English?
