Bought - brought

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An error that is quite common is the confusion the two past tenses, both doubling as -ed participles. These can be confused as typing errors, or, in speech, mispronunciations, both by non-native learners and by native British children.

  • Brought is the form of both the past tense and past participle of the verb 'to bring, whose basic meaning is 'to carry with oneself', 'to fetch' or 'to cause to come along with oneself'.
  • Bought (with no '-r-') is the form of both the past tense and past participle of the verb 'to buy' (also without an '-r-'), which means 'to acquire possession of in exchange for money'. (A buyer gives a seller money for something that the buyer wants.)