The English verb "to stinck" (lit. to stink, give off a bad smell; fig. To be repulsive, poor) has a paradigm in which the past "stank" and the past participle "stunk" are easily confused, even for native speakers. Read on to become an expert on this topic.
Steps
Step 1. Remember that stank is the past form
Use it when you refer to an action concluded in the past, such as last night, yesterday, etc. Stunk is the form of the past participle, that is, it is used with have, has, or had. Here are some correct uses in sentences:
- "She sure stank up the kitchen last night with that burned milk!" (Of course the kitchen stank last night with that burnt milk!).
- "I'm sorry, but the baby's diaper really stank on the way home yesterday!" (I'm sorry, but yesterday the baby's diaper really smelled on the way home!).
- "The house hasn't stunk this badly since the day we found that rat behind the dryer".
- "If you hadn't stunk up the bathroom, I wouldn't have opened the window and let your orchids freeze in the snow" with snow).
Step 2. Remember that stink (stank - stunk) is what is called an irregular verb
It means that it doesn't have the ending -ed in the past tense (like live - lived - lived), but that it behaves like drink - drank - drunk.
Step 3. Don't bother using the noun like in this example:
"You're sure making a big stink about nothing!" (It's sure you'll make a big fuss about nothing! - stink figuratively means "fuss, noise, hype"). Not a problem, because in this case it is a noun.
Step 4. Don't worry about using the adjective like this:
"I can't stand that stinking tree in front of the window anymore". This is not a problem, because in this case it is an adjective.
Step 5. Think of the verb when it is inserted in a sentence like:
"You really stunk at checkers last night." (Played really bad at checkers last night - figuratively the verb means "to be repulsive; shoddy"). It's wrong because it should be stank (you played really bad).
Step 6. Think of the verb when it is inserted in a sentence like:
"She hasn't stank that badly since you bought her that cheap perfume". (She doesn't seem to smell that bad since you bought her that perfume on a budget. ") It's wrong because it should be stunk.
Advice
- Sink-sank-sunk and shrink-shrank-shrunk work just like stink-stank-stunk.
- Remember that stink-stank-stunk is like drink-drank-drunk. Don't say "He drunk too much last night" or "Have you drank all that medicine?" (Have you drunk all the medicine?) Unless you intend to express yourself as an educated Englishman.
- To check if you use the verb correctly, consult the examples given in the dictionary (hopefully it has some) after the definition and see if your sentence is similar.
- Note that "ebonics" (the English of African Americans) is considered by some linguists to be a dialect other than English: these indications on the use of the stink-stank-stunk paradigm do not apply if you use the verb in street jargon.
- You could check the rules using an English grammar or syntax manual and eventually find the word in the index. Search the page and read some examples applied correctly.
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Use a synonym if you find it too difficult to remember when is the right time to use "stank" instead of "stunk" and vice versa.
In case you forget the paradigm, substitute the verb. For example, instead of "The house hasn't stunk this badly since the day we found that rat behind the dryer", you can say: "The house hasn't smelled this bad since the day we found that rat behind the dryer"
- You could write the sentence in a Microsoft Word document, turn on the English grammar check feature, and see if it underlines it in red. In this case, it means that it is wrong.
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These guidelines for using the stink-stank-stunk paradigm are not to be applied in street jargon, such as:
- "Girl, you iz stinky.
- "Girl iz such a nasty stank -ho lately, what is her problem?" (That one smelled so disgusting! Hey, what's the matter with that?).
- "That stank bitch just cussed my mama out!" (That smelly bitch just cursed my mom!).
- "Damn, Julio, that bidge is stank! Stay away from her".
- Remember that you can decide the way you speak English: educated, sophisticated, relaxed. If you don't care, then whatever you use doesn't matter. But if you are writing for work, school, or professional reasons or are simply trying to speak correctly, then you must actually learn the difference between stank and stunk.
- You can do a search on the phrase to use (for example, "she stunk") on Google, with the quotes, and see what comes out. You may quickly find examples that tell you when the use is wrong.
- Make sure the spell checker doesn't misunderstand skank with stank.
