Let’s continue with Word Knots, where we discuss common instances of words and phrases that are often confused or misused. In the last installment and this one, we’re looking at two words that are often thought to be interchangeable, but that do in fact have different meanings. Note that the distinctions are more common in US English, but not as frequent in UK English.

Once again our source for this is installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). It’s a great book: Check it out.

Rather than take a stern ‘grammar police’ approach we always try to keep it light and in each installment point out examples of semantic confusion that should be considered “must to avoid.”

From Fiske (excerpted):

proven

Misused for proved.  

As Fiske says:

Proved is the verb form; proven the adjectival form.

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Let’s look at the most relevant Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary definitions:

proven

past participle of prove

prove

verb

2 a : to test the quality of : try out

   b : to subject to a technical testing process : ascertain (as by analysis or experiment) conformity with a standard.

In this case, M-W doesn’t have a separate definition for proven, and it’s usage has been subject to debate for many years.

M-W says this regarding usage (excerpted):

As a past participle proven is now about as frequent as proved in American English (in British English proved is still preferred), and it is found in all contexts. As an attributive adjective <proved or proven gas reserves> proven is much more common than proved.

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I’m with Fiske on this: I would recommend using proved strictly as a verb and proven strictly as an adjective.

Examples: 

The findings proved that our case was solid.

Our conclusions were based on proven test results.

Once again, details are critical, which is why checking your work is an important step toward ensuring that your intended meaning is clear.

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