Mekita Rivas, SNR communications associate, publishes a biweekly feature called "Grammar Guru."
Every other week, the Grammar Guru will share writing tips to help make your work as polished as possible. Some of these tips may address common spelling errors, while others will examine the many nuances of the English language.
Grammar Guru Tip #33
"Dragged" and "drug" are sometimes used interchangeably. However, the correct past tense of "drag" is "dragged." "Drag" is a regular verb, which means you add "d," "ed," or in this case "ged" to make it past tense. "Drag" becomes "dragged."
That being said, treating "drag" as an irregular verb and using "drug" as the past tense is common in parts of the U.S. Some linguists refer to it as a dialect, which means it's a language quirk shared by certain groups of people.
Examples:
"I dragged myself out of bed to go to the store." "She dragged the box into the room because it was too heavy to be carried."
Pro tip: Just say no to "drug." Its only standard meaning has to do with illegal drugs or pharmaceuticals.
Need some grammar guidance? The UNL Style Guide (http://unlcms.unl.edu/ucomm/styleguide/) is a great resource for all university employees. If you have writing questions that the style guide doesn't answer, feel free to email the Grammar Guru at mrivas@unl.edu.