Legal Writing

Principal Parts of the Verb TO FIT

Reader Barry Kemp has a question about fit:

One thing that has puzzled me for a while is the use of the word “fit”. It’s quite clear when one reads that “the new rug was a perfect fit in the apartment” But what is the rule for the past tense? We often read something like “it was a long stuggle but in the end he fit the pieces together” or “she slipped it on and the suit fit her perfectly” It is quite clear these sentences are past tense so why do we not use the past tense “fitted”?

This is one of those puzzles created by the differences between British and American usage.

British usage: fit, fit, (have) fitted

American usage: fit, fit, (have) fit

Other verbs that differ in this way are bet, get, and quit.

Americans say bet-bet-bet, get-got-gotten and quit-quit-quit.

British speakers say get-got-got and quit-quitted-quitted. They take their choice with bet and say either bet-bet-bet or bet-betted-betted.

Principal Parts of the Verb TO FIT

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).