ward

Question

Can we say 'The injured man is warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital?' I often see 'ward' being used as a verb in our newspapers.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I've never seen or heard this. To my N. American ear, it sounds very odd indeed.

I've noticed that newspapers often seem to 'invent' new usages, often in the interests of brevity, that no-one else ever seems to adopt.

Best wishes, Clive

Yoong Liat · Answer

Thanks, Clive.

Marius Hancu · Answer

I've made a search on BBC-related sites, and it seems that the only similar usage is coming from non-native speakers. Thus avoid it.

ward can be a transitive verb, but the meaning 1 here isn't the same as in your sentence (wrt to hospitals).
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ward

transitive verb

1 : to keep watch over : keep in safety or custody : serve as guard, guardian, or protector for <a warden's business is to ward the people who are put in his charge -- Phil Stong> <the bald mountains that ward the Cap Rock -- Margaret Cousins>

2 a : to fend off (a blow or weapon) : PARRY -- usually used with off<shields his face with one arm ... to ward off a blow -- Inez Karma & Gilbert Millstein> b : to turn aside (something threatening or harmful) : DEFLECT -- usually used with off<a magic charm to ward off evil -- M.J.Herskovits> <our nation has warded off all enemies -- D.D.Eisenhower>

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Yoong Liat · Answer

Marius HancuMade a search on BBC-related sites, and it seems that the only similar usage is coming from non-native speakers. Thus avoid it.

Thanks. Noted.

Yoong Liat · Answer

Marius wrote: I've made a search on BBC-related sites, and it seems that the only similar usage is coming from non-native speakers.

Out of curiosity, this morning I referred to The New Oxford Dictionary of English, which was published in 1998, and was surprised to find "ward" defined as "admit (a patient) to hospital".

I often see 'ward' being used as a verb in our newspapers long before 1998.

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