Lend vs. Loan
How to use "lend" and "loan" correctlyThis is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.
Although the use of to loan as a verb when discussing money or material goods has been common in English for a long time, some grammar authorities still insist that loan should only be used as a noun. In any case, loan should never be used as a verb to express figurative meanings:
“loan me fifty dollars” is risky when writing for some audiences
“lend me fifty dollars” is universally accepted
loan him a hand
lend him a hand
her presence loaned me confidence
her presence lent me confidence
Remember that to lend is an irregular verb whose past tense and past participle forms are both lent. To loan is a regular verb that follows the standard conjugation pattern with -ed.
Related Resources
Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English
List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list
Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage
List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version
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