Thursday, April 3, 2008

How to use 'bear', 'bore', 'born' and 'borne' correctly

The word ‘bear’ as a verb means to produce, to tolerate, to carry, etc.
Examples of its use in sentences are as follows:
1 The tree will begin to bear fruit after three months.
2 I couldn’t bear the noise there and moved elsewhere to study.
3 Devotees will bear kavadis on Thaipusam Day.

The past tense of ‘bear’ is ‘bore’.
An example of its usage in a sentence is:
The boy bore resemblance to his father when young but not now.

The past participle of ‘bear’ is ‘born’ and ‘borne’. Note their usage in the following sentences.
1 A boy was born on board the plane and the mother was attended by a doctor.
2 The bag borne by the boy was so heavy that he staggered every now and then.

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