Shook vs. Shaked vs. Shaken (Grammar Rules)
Learn when to use shook vs. shaked vs. shaken on with Grammar Rules from the Writer’s Digest editors, including a few examples of correct usages.
This week, let's look at the differences of shook, shaked, and shaken. Two of the words are past tense for the verb shake, and the other one is not a word at all.
So let's shake out the meanings.
Shook vs. Shaked vs. Shaken
Shook is the standard past tense form of the verb "shake." If I shake someone's hand today, then I shook someone's hand yesterday, okay?
Shaked is not a word. If you hear someone use "shaked," he or she probably means to use "shook."
Shaken is the standard past participle of the verb "shake." If I shook his hand yesterday, then his hand was shaken yesterday.
Make sense?
Here are a few examples:
Correct: She shook the bag until the ingredients were mixed.
Incorrect: She shaked the bag until the ingredients were mixed.
Incorrect: She shaken the bag until the ingredients were mixed.
Correct: He had shaken the tree to see if anything would fall out.
Incorrect: He had shook the tree to see if anything would fall out.
Incorrect: He had shaked the tree to see if anything would fall out.
So that's how these three terms shake out. Just remember that shook is active, shaken is passive, and shaked doesn't exist.
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No matter what type of writing you do, mastering the fundamentals of grammar and mechanics is an important first step to having a successful writing career.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
