sink sank sunk?

Linguistics question: I use "the boat sank" and "the boat has sunk", which I believe is standard in the US. Yet I casually stated "[the concept] never really sunk in" in a thread just now. If someone said "...never really sank in", I'd probably find it acceptable, but I definitely default to "...sunk in" here.

WHY? This is not suddenly a transitive usage, nor any sort of tense change. There is no reason whatsoever to use "sunk" there, unless it is a British usage or something which is preserved only in this idiom.

Any insights?

 

Ungrammatical phrases in common use? WHUDA THUNKIT!

 

apparently sunk has an adjective form meaning doomed or done for, as well as verb.
and sank just has the same verb definitions as sunk...:confused

english is weird.

 

Especially in the south. Here in Texas, you can get away with sunked, probably.

 

I think sank sounds right all the the time but you have to add an adjective to sunk to make it sound right, "Yeah the boat sank." Sounds fine to me but sunk sounds iffy without an adjective after it,as in "yeah the boat sunk!" But I think this sounds right "Yeah the boat sunk deeper."

 

Hiya CatT after all that, what i want to know is have those answers, sink in, i mean sank in, i mean sunk in ! :-D
I mean why don't you think, thunk, i mean thank everyone for their answers ! :-D

 

I think Rikky is on to something. They are adverbs, not adjectives, but still.

Forget the "concept" detour. Even with the basic example, I'd go with "The boat sank" but "The boat never sunk". Perhaps it's some sort of blurring with "...hasn't sunk", although I don't experience this on other verbs.

I'm gonna go ask on a linguistics site now. This is all too subtle for we amateurs....

 

CatT it's all about past tense, post tense, and pre tense, when it comes to words that are used in a sentence, post and pre being more or less the same i:e
Is the boat going to sink ( post tense, it may be about to happen )
The boat is going to sink ( you are talking about pre tense, as it happens or is happening )
The boat has sank ( past tense, it has already happened )
The boat is/has sunken ( past tense again, it has happened and is at the bottom of the sea / river ) when using words like sank, sunk, sink, you have to remember in which part of the sentence the word is said or placed and how it is said !
" I think the boat is sinking "
" Yes it is sinking, in fact it has/had already sank "
" OH ! Look it has sunken to the very bottom of the sea "
I know this is totally an off the word way of thinking about it but it's a bit like a pregnancy you have Anti-natal, Pre-natal and Post-natal, before, during and after !

 

One sink, many sinks

 

Hey Mims you don't want too many sinks, because i'll make you do the washing up in one of them ! :-D

 

The Guy is laughing uncontrollably behind my shoulder right now...

 

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Arts-and-Literature/Question322155.html

Sunk is the past participle according to this guy or Gal.

Code:

Infinitive  Simple Present  Simple Past   Past Participle  Present Participle

to sink    sink(s)       sank or sunk 	        sunk 	          sinking     

And here http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/irregularrules01.htm

Participles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participle

 

That tickle your fella did it Mimsy ! :-D

 

…Unless, of course the Galley sink in the sinking Sloop sank with the sunken sink. In which case it might be all of the above, yet none.

…I think I need a drink, erm, drunk, err drank. ~ I have a headache!....:confused

 

Thats exactly how i feel Phantom, who started all this anyway, sink sank sunk, think thank thunk, plink plank plunk ! roflmaoroflmao

 

did anyone drown ?

 

I sink (present), I sank (past), I have sunk (present perfect).

"The navy sunk the pirate ship." no they didn't "They sank the ship".

"Honey, I shrunk the kids" is grammatically incorrect. It should be "shrank" or "I've shrunk."