Proper Use of Words that are Easily Confused

Set/Sit, Raise/Rise, Lay/Lie, Shined/Shone

These need an object:                      These can’t take an object:

Set He is setting the table. (No one can just set; something other than him must be set as a result of his action.)	Sit He is sitting.   (He can not “sit himself;” he must “seat himself.”
Raise He is raising his hand to speak. (He is giving his hand the action.)	Rise He is rising from his seat. (He can not “rise himself;” he must “raise himself.”)
Lay He is laying the book on the desk. (He is giving the book the action.)	Lie The book is lying on the desk. (The book does not lie itself on the desk.  A person may lay himself on a bed, but he lies there.)
Shined The man shined his shoes before going to bed. (He made the shoes shiny.)	Shone After the shoes were polished, they shone like glass. (The shoes gave off light or reflected light)

Borrow/Lend, Bring/Take

These involve things going toward you:                These involve things going away from you:    

Borrow If I borrow ten dollars from you, the money is moving from you to me.	Lend If I lend (loan) you ten dollars, the money is moving from me to you.
Bring If you are holding a note, and you carry it to me, you are bringing it to me.	Take If I hand you a note, and you carry it to someone else, you are taking it to him.  (If you are carrying the note from me to him, I would say you are taking it to him because you are carrying it away from me.  He would say you are bringing it to him because you are carrying it toward him.
Partake If someone else has something and lets you have some of it, he is sharing it and you are partaking of it.	Share If you have something and let someone else have some of it, you are sharing it with him.

These involve action or effort:                       These are a result:

Seek (to look for…) “I’m looking for my book.  I hope I find it.” If you want to know where something is, you may use your eyes to look for it.	Find If you see something that you hadn’t known was there, then you find it.
Study  “I studied for the test, but I didn’t pass it.”  (You made the effort—studying—but didn’t achieve the desired result: learning.)	Learn “When I put my hand on the stove, I learned that it was hot.”  (You didn’t study the hot stove, but you learned something about it.)

Other

Hang, hanged, hanged                                                         (for people)          “The criminal was hanged yesterday.”

Hang, hung, hung (for objects) “The picture was hung in the museum.”