This week, we find ourselves once again wrestling with ourselves over how to conjugate an irregular verb. Our listener, Liz Harrow, asked to look into the past tense of “to speed.” Should it be “sped” or “speeded”?
Some of you may already have strong feelings on this matter. We thought we did too, until we discovered that we could use “speeded” and “sped” interchangeably in some contexts. For example, “The new technology sped up the process” and “The new technology speeded up the process” both sound fine to us. But why?
The earliest meaning of “to speed” in English was “to succeed” or “to prosper.” By the 1200s, “to speed” had come to refer to "quickness of pace." Historically, “sped” has served as both the past tense and the past participle: “Today I speed. Yesterday I sped. I have sped.”
In the 19th century, however, the verb "to speed up" began to appear, along with the past tense “speeded up.” Bryan Garner, in the fifth edition of his guide Modern English Usage, offers this clever note regarding an initial preference for “speeded up” over “sped up” in the language:
"That was so throughout the English speaking world during the 1900s, but in both American English and British English, ‘sped up’ has greatly accelerated since 1980. Shortly after 2000 in American English, and after 2011 in British English, it surpassed ‘speeded up.’ In short, in North America ‘speeded up’ has slowed down.”
See what he did there?
Garner’s observation helps explain why some of us can use both, “The new technology sped up the process” and “The new technology speeded up the process.” One form may be more common, but it wasn’t always, and they’re both still around.
To hear more about usage patterns regarding “sped” as well as the expression “Godspeed,” listen to the audio above.
