the verb shine

[chrisalor]

I know that shine, shone, shone is correct, but I have seen things like. "He shined the flashlight in her eyes." "She outshined them." Please explain. Thank you. Chrisalor

[Fazzu]

I think it's wrong to use 'shined' there;it should be 'shone/outshone'.'Shined' is used to make something bright by rubbing it; e.g.shoes.

[Casiopea]

From The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.

shine (v.)

This strong verb now has a full set of weak forms as well: past tense and past participle are each either shined or shone.

There is some interchangeability in those forms, but there are also some semantic distinctions. It’s always He shined his shoes (never He shone his shoes), but it can be The sun shined all day, although The sun shone all day is more frequent.

Nor is it simply the transitive/intransitive distinction that governs choice: transitive He shined his light into the cellar and He shone his light into the cellar are both acceptable (although British English uses shone almost exclusively in such sentences).

Intransitive sentences can use either shined or shone, but shone is more prevalent, especially in Edited English, unless the meaning is “to polish”: His cheeks shone with embarrassment.

Hope that helps.

[Fazzu]

Hello Casiopea,

I want to confirm if transitive verbs comes after a noun/subject.

Thanks.

[Casiopea]

Hmm. I'm not sure I fully understand your question, so if my answer is way off base, let me know.

Transitive verbs require an object. In English, all sentences require a subject, no matter the verb - even imperative sentences have an implied subject; e.g., (You) Move that train!

[Fazzu]

What I meant was:

From my English book I saw these two examples,"John sings a song","Mary reads a book".So, does transitive verbs come after a noun/subject?

[Coffa]

What I meant was:
From my English book I saw these two examples,"John sings a song","Mary reads a book".So, does transitive verbs come after a noun/subject?

English is an SVO language, so a verb always comes after its subject, whether the verb is transitive or not. Is that what you mean?

As for 'shined', in British English it isn't acceptable at all in current usage - but this may change in the future due to the creeping linguistic imperialism of the Yankee behemoth .

[Casiopea]

What I meant was:

From my English book I saw these two examples,"John sings a song","Mary reads a book".So, does transitive verbs come after a noun/subject?

Well, aside from the fact that English is an SVO language (subject-verb-object) - as Coffa has mentioned - which means that Subjects are required in English, they don't necessarily have to be seen or heard. So, yes, in a way, transitive verbs do not always have subjects, or rather, overt subjects - ones that you can see or hear. Take imperative verbs as an example. These verbs don't need an overt subject,

[1] Read page 7, please. <no overt subject; transitive verb>
[2] Sing the 2nd song, please. <no overt subject; transitive verb>

Both Read and Sing are transitive verbs in those constructs, yet neither verb has an overt subject.

As for shone and shined, well, they wouldn't work as imperatives. They're both past in form; imperatives are bare in form.

[chrisalor]

Thank you. I never thought it would have been a difference of transitive (shined) and instransitive (shone.) Very helpful.

[Fazzu]

Thanks Coffa and Cas.