Faked cry vs Fake-cried

[Little Girl]

Hi, everyone. Which one is correct?

1. (a) He was only just faking cry.
(b) He was only just fake-crying.

2. (a) I have never faked cry.
(b) I have never fake-cried.

Thanks.

 

[Raymott]

1. "He was only/just fake crying." You don't both 'only' and 'just' here since they serve the same purpose.
2. "I have never fake cried. I have never faked crying." In the last sentence 'faked' is the past participle.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm not too comfortable with the verb to fake cry. I'd prefer to say:

1) He was only faking crying.
2) I've never faked crying.

 

[Rover_KE]

'to fake cry' is new to me. It's not colloquial in my dialect.

 

[Tdol]

We do talk of fake tears, so you could say his tears were fake.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'd say 'He was weeping crocodile tears'.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm familiar with "fake-crying".

 

[Raymott]

OK, "fake crying" might not be a common term, but it would sound fine to me colloquially. I considered "faking crying", but that would sound worse to me, even if its arguably more grammatical.

 

[Little Girl]

1. "He was only/just fake crying." You don't both 'only' and 'just' here since they serve the same purpose.
2. "I have never fake cried. I have never faked crying." In the last sentence 'faked' is the past participle.

Why can't we say "faking" in the first sentence when it's okay to say "faked" in the second?

 

[Little Girl]

I'm familiar with "fake-crying".

So would all these forms be correct? Or should it be "crying", not "cry", in the second case?

1. Fake-cry, fake-cries, fake-cried, fake-crying

2. Fake cry, fakes cry, faked cry

 

[emsr2d2]

I would say that the first set is correct. We are taking "[to] fake-cry" as a verb so the various verb endings should be attached to the end of the word, as they are with other verbs.

She fake-cries.
I fake-cry.
They were fake-crying.

 

[Tdol]

How about pretend crying?

 

[Phaedrus]

1. (a) He was only just faking cry.
(b) He was only just fake-crying.

2. (a) I have never faked cry.
(b) I have never fake-cried.

I think I'd prefer to use the infinitive construction:

(1c) He was just faking to cry.
(2c) I have never faked to cry.

Actually, I like it better with the past progressive. Instead of (2c), I'd go with:

(2c) I have never faked that I was crying.

 

[GoesStation]

I think I'd prefer to use the infinitive construction:

(1c) He was just faking to cry.
(2c) I have never faked to cry.

Those don't work at all for me.

 

[emsr2d2]

(1c) He was just faking to cry.
(2c) I have never faked to cry.

They don't work at all for me either.

 

[Phaedrus]

Those don't work at all for me.

Do they work for you with "pretend"?

(1c') He was just pretending to cry.
(2c') I have never pretended to cry.

 

[emsr2d2]

Do they work for you with "pretend"?

(1c') He was just pretending to cry.
(2c') I have never pretended to cry.

Yes.

 

[Phaedrus]

Yes.

"Feign" also works:

(1c'') He was just feigning to cry.
(2c'') I have never feigned to cry.

 

[emsr2d2]

I find those unnatural too. I expect a noun after "feign".

She feigned sadness.
They were feigning interest.

 

[Phaedrus]

I find those unnatural too. I expect a noun after "feign".

Unfortunately, unlike with "fake," where I was taking a grammatical risk, the infinitive-complement pattern is officially recognized with "pretend" and "feign."

From the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA):

"He feigned to consider the question deeply."
". . . stealing back the horses they had feigned to sell to us the day before."
"The driver remained oblivious and the porters feigned to be no less so, though they smiled behind their hands."
"I feigned to look puzzled."
"For we have silenced the world by feigning to name and comprehend it."
"With less sarcasm than in her Hunka description, Valandry described her role of ritually feigning to cut the tree . . . ."