Fling past tense
Meaning of fling
to throw or hurl forcefully.
Infinitive
- 1. She always flings her coat on the sofa as soon as she gets home.
- 2. Every morning, he flings open the curtains to let the sunlight in.
- 3. The cat often flings its toys around the living room when it's playful.
Past Simple
- 1. She flung her jacket on the couch as soon as she entered the house.
- 2. He flung the ball with all his might, aiming for the farthest end of the field.
- 3. They flung the old, broken furniture out of the window during the cleanup.
Past Participle
- 1. The keys had been flung across the room in a moment of anger.
- 2. By the time we arrived, the confetti had already been flung into the air.
- 3. The message was flung into the digital void, never to be seen again.
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Bare infinitive
- General Actions or States When discussing habitual or regular actions.Example. He flings the newspaper onto the porch every morning without fail.
- Universal Truths or Facts Explaining things that are universally true.Example. Gravity flings objects towards the ground.
- Scheduled Events (in the near future) Talking about scheduled or timetabled events.Example. The festival flings its gates open at 8 AM sharp tomorrow.
- Instructions or Directions Giving instructions, directions, or orders.Example. First, fling the mixture into the bowl, then stir vigorously.
- Commentary Giving realtime commentary or instructions.Example. And now, he flings the ball across the field to his teammate.
Past Simple
- Completed Actions in the Past Discussing actions that were completed at a specific time in the past.Example. She flung her graduation cap high into the air yesterday.
- Sequence of Past Events Telling a story or listing events in the order they occurred.Example. First, he flung open the doors, then he marched inside.
- Past States Talking about states or situations that were true in the past.Example. They once flung caution to the wind and traveled the world.
Past Participle
- Perfect Tenses Discussing actions that have been completed at some point before now (Present Perfect), actions completed before another action in the past (Past Perfect), or future actions completed before another future action or time (Future Perfect). Example (Present Perfect). She has flung the papers across the office in frustration more than once. Example (Past Perfect). By the time we arrived, he had already flung the door shut. Example (Future Perfect). By the end of the week, we will have flung out all the old furniture.
- Passive Voice Talking about actions where the focus is on the action itself, rather than who or what is performing the action.Example. The accusations were flung without evidence, causing chaos.
- Adjectives/Descriptions Describing a state resulting from an action.Example. Feeling utterly flung aside, she decided not to call him again.
Common mistakes
— 01
Confusing 'flung' with 'flinged'
A common mistake is using 'flinged' instead of the correct past simple and past participle form 'flung.' Since 'fling' is an irregular verb, it does not follow the regular pattern of adding -ed to form its past tense. Therefore, 'Yesterday, he flung the ball across the field' is correct, whereas 'Yesterday, he flinged the ball across the field' is incorrect. This error often arises from the assumption that most English verbs follow a regular conjugation pattern, leading to the mistaken creation of 'flinged.'
— 02
Incorrect use of 'flung' with 'have'
Another mistake involves the misuse of 'flung' as the past participle form without the auxiliary verb 'have' in perfect tenses. For instance, 'I have flung the keys on the table' is correct, demonstrating the past participle form in the present perfect tense. Conversely, saying 'I flung the keys on the table' while intending to use the present perfect tense is incorrect because it lacks the necessary auxiliary verb 'have,' changing the tense to simple past.
— 03
Mixing up 'fling' and 'flung'
Sometimes, writers or speakers might inadvertently switch between 'fling' and 'flung' within a narrative, disrupting tense consistency. For example, in a narrative primarily in the simple past tense, correctly maintaining the use of 'flung' is essential. Incorrectly reverting to 'fling' disrupts the narrative flow and tense consistency, such as in 'He flung the ball, and then he fling his coat on the sofa.' The correct form would be 'He flung the ball, and then he flung his coat on the sofa.'
Past tense quiz
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