# Plead or Pleaded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939 "2014-01-28T10:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/1 "2014-01-28T10:20:35Z")
Is it proper to use the past tense of the verb “plead” as “Joe plead not guilty” or “Joe pleaded not guilty”? Lately, I have seen most websites use the term “pleaded”. But I have always been under the impression the correct past tense was “plead” (pronounced “pled”). In fact, although I usually see it written as “pleaded”, that just sounds so wrong when I hear someone say it that way. For example, here is a recent news article in which the verb appears to be used both ways: > **[St. Patrick's Day attackers plead guilty in videotaped beating](https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-xpm-2012-07-09-bal-st-patricks-day-attackers-plead-guilty-in-videotaped-beating-20120709-story.html)** St. Patrick’s Day attackers plead guilty in videotaped beating \ \Four young people charged in a videotaped attack on a drunken tourist, who was beaten, robbed and stripped in front of a city courthouse on St. Patrick’s day, pleaded guilty to their roles in the crime Monday \ If I got this wrong and the first use of “plead” is the present tense, I still see many, many stories in which both forms of “plead” are used in both the past and present tense. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/2 "2014-01-28T10:52:42Z")
After the hanged - hung debate. Why not ‘pled’? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/3 "2014-01-28T10:55:52Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > After the hanged - hung debate. Why not ‘pled’? Sorry. I missed the hanged - hung debate. But when used as the past tense, “plead” is pronounced “pled” and so I supose it is similar to “hung”. I always thought that “plead” was used as the past tense and I have no idea when or how “pleaded” ever got into usage as the past tense. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/4 "2014-01-28T11:07:43Z")
> [@Lazlo Hapsburg](#): > > I always thought that “plead” was used as the past tense and I have no idea when or how “pleaded” ever got into usage as the past tense. Pled is a perfectly valid word and spelling. Plead (rhymes with need) can be used in the future and present tenses - as in “I will go to court/I am in in court to plead my case.” Pleaded in this sense, just sounds clunky to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/5 "2014-01-28T12:10:31Z")
“Pleaded” has always been the standard firm in newspapers. “Pled” makes me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/6 "2014-01-28T14:39:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Pleaded” has always been the standard firm in newspapers. “Pled” makes me cringe. I _always_ heard/saw “pled” growing up. It’s only been in the last 10-20 years I started hearing “pleaded” on the national news and good grief is that grating on the ears. Ouch. Makes them sound like Radar O’Reilly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/7 "2014-01-28T14:48:18Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Pleaded” has always been the standard firm in newspapers. “Pled” makes me cringe. > [@ftg](#): > > I _always_ heard/saw “pled” growing up. It’s only been in the last 10-20 years I started hearing “pleaded” on the national news and good grief is that grating on the ears. Ouch. Makes them sound like Radar O’Reilly. I never herd pled. Pled until I bled. Ain’t English fun? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/8 "2014-01-28T14:51:25Z")
For some reason I expect defendants to have pled either guilty or not guilty but in other situations I expect pleaded. “‘Don’t go,’ she pleaded.”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/9 "2014-01-28T15:10:53Z")
Human memory is faulty. The Associated Press and New York Times have always used “pleaded.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/10 "2014-01-28T16:03:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Human memory is faulty. The Associated Press and New York Times have always used “pleaded.” I have a 1987 edition of the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (which was only updated sometime around the late 90s), and you are absolutely correct. There is an entry for plead: > [@](#): > > **plead, pleaded, pleading** Do not use the colloquial past tense form, _pled_. The AP Stylebook is the standard used by most newspapers around the US. If there’s an in-house style guide, it is usually based on the AP Stylebook, in my experience, or defers to the AP Stylebook for anything not covered in the in-house stylebook. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/11 "2014-01-29T18:17:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Human memory is faulty. The Associated Press and New York Times have always used “pleaded.” As do opinions issued by appellate courts. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/12 "2014-01-29T21:57:47Z")
I’ve only heard “pled” in TV courtroom dramas. In every other instance it’s “pleaded”, as in “No matter how much he pleaded with his mother, little Johnny was not getting a bb gun that Christmas.” ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plead-or-pleaded/679939/13 "2014-01-30T02:30:41Z")
In Commonwealth jurisdictions, pleaded is used. Pled is treated as a colloquialism. If a lawyer spoke in court of his client having pled guilty, he would look like a yokel who had been watching too much TV.