| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | | English term or phrase: | loan versus lend (American English) | | English translation: | lend is preferred | | Entered by: | Kim Metzger |
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Art/Literary - Linguistics / preferred usage | | English term or phrase: loan versus lend (American English) | I am curious as to whether there is a "preferred" usage in American English in casual, informal speech, as in the example below:
" I loaned the car to my daughter"
"I lent the car to my daughter
Can both be used indistinctively or is there a preferred, way? What I mean by "preferred" is not whether one is correct and the other not, but rather if one of the forms is more elegant. I tend to favor "lent".
Thanks in advance. |
|  George RabelKudoZ activityQuestions: 386 (none open) ( 3 closed without grading) Answers: 3683
United States
| | Local time: 18:27
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| | Two opinions | Explanation:
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage - loan: do not use 'loan' as a verb. Use 'lend' and, in the past tense, lent rather than loaned.
The Careful Writer, Theodore Bernstein
Lend, loan
Dictionaries and most other authorities sanction 'loan' as a verb in American usage. Yet, probably because a British influence has been at work, most writers who observe the niceties seem to prefer 'lend', although some accpet 'loan' in financial contexts ("The bank loaned the corporation $3,000,000") and in art contexts ("Three of the paintings were loaned to the museum by Nelson Rockefeller"). If your ear is not offended by "Loan me your pen" or by "Friends, Romans, countrymen, loan me your ears," the authorities are right so far as you are concerned. The rest of us will continue to prefer 'lend' though we recognize that 'loan' has a basis in both history and usage. |
| Selected response from:
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 17:27
| Grading comment Thank you, Kim. Your answer is quite clear.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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7 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +10 |
| | loan versus lend (american english) Two opinions
Explanation:
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage - loan: do not use 'loan' as a verb. Use 'lend' and, in the past tense, lent rather than loaned.
The Careful Writer, Theodore Bernstein
Lend, loan
Dictionaries and most other authorities sanction 'loan' as a verb in American usage. Yet, probably because a British influence has been at work, most writers who observe the niceties seem to prefer 'lend', although some accpet 'loan' in financial contexts ("The bank loaned the corporation $3,000,000") and in art contexts ("Three of the paintings were loaned to the museum by Nelson Rockefeller"). If your ear is not offended by "Loan me your pen" or by "Friends, Romans, countrymen, loan me your ears," the authorities are right so far as you are concerned. The rest of us will continue to prefer 'lend' though we recognize that 'loan' has a basis in both history and usage.
| Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 17:27
Works in field
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 187
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| | Grading comment | Thank you, Kim. Your answer is quite clear. |
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The translation workplace 
