Past tense - shine

Shone. Don't use shined you may hear it but it is incorrect.

"shined" is usually used when the sense is "polished": "I shined my shoes".

It's interesting that strong verbs in English have been evolving over time to regular weak forms.

In British English, learnt is used as past for learn, but American English, you always hear "learned." The past of "help" is "helped;" you never hear the old strong forms "healp, holpen"

Shine may be undergoing this evoloution, althoug the strong past form is still much more commo

AlpheccaStarsHe shined his flashlight towards the black cat.

I think usage varies, because, for me, both "shone" and "shined" work here. In fact, I think I prefer "shone".

However, I would never say "The sun shined brightly". It would always be "shone".

The COCAE (www.americancorpus.org/) gives several examples of "shined" in modern usage - e.g. "I knew you had to make hay when the sun shined."


There is even a quote from literature ("Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, regarding the American cause):
"The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. "

That being said, the irregular past (shone) is the most frequent usage th

Mr Wordy"shined" is usually used when the sense is "polished": "I shined my shoes".

Good point, Mr Wordy. I was thinking of the sun shining.