# Went missing......proper grammar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734 "2005-01-26T08:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/1 "2005-01-26T08:40:47Z")
Having watched a no. of TV crime shows, I hear the sentence frequently: _He/she went missing years ago_ Went missing sounds so foreign to my ears that I am asking you people if that is the acceptable way of describing when someone disappeared from every day life. Please straighten me out on that is a perfectly acceptable way of saying that someone is missing. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/2 "2005-01-26T09:38:09Z")
I suppose the basic verb is “to go missing”, which simply means to become missing i.e. lost, hidden, whereabouts unknown etc. I’m not sure why we say “go missing” instead of “become missing” to describe the action. Just idiomatic I assume. Once you accept the usage the various forms are then simply conjugated according to the verb “to go”: He went missing; they had gone missing; she will have gone missing etc. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/3 "2005-01-26T10:10:18Z")
How about “He has been missing for years”? Unless you’re worried people will think you’re talking about someone with poor aim. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/4 "2005-01-26T10:17:06Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > How about “He has been missing for years”? Unless you’re worried people will think you’re talking about someone with poor aim. I suppose there’s a distinction between the action of becoming missing, for which we use the expression “to go missing”, and the state of actually having gone missing, for which we use the expression “to be missing” e.g. He \*went missing \* over 20 years ago = action He \*has been missing \* for over 20 years = resulting state English can be pretty strange at times. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/5 "2005-01-26T13:25:29Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > Having watched a no. of TV crime shows, I hear the sentence frequently: _He/she went missing years ago_ > > Went missing sounds so foreign to my ears that I am asking you people if that is the acceptable way of describing when someone disappeared from every day life. > > Please straighten me out on that is a perfectly acceptable way of saying that someone is missing. Where are you from? The phrase is perfectly natural in my dialect but perhaps it’s not used in your native community - or maybe it’s just your own idiosyncracy. To me it’s clearly a casual, informal sort of expression, but it sounds perfectly grammatical. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/6 "2005-01-26T13:38:29Z")
It’s just a matter of describing the state, the transition from gone to missing. This is because normally someone isn’t missing at first, he’s just gone somewhere, or status unknown. It is like going away, in that respect. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/7 "2005-01-26T14:05:15Z")
Well, lots of other verbs use the “to go” form. I’m going hunting. I went fishing. I had gone jogging. In this case, you’re just going missing. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/8 "2005-01-26T14:06:06Z")
The one that sounds wrong to me is “found missing.” “He checked her office at 3pm and she was found missing.” I understand there’s an implied “to be” in there - she was found to be missing - but even that sounds wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/9 "2005-01-26T14:17:04Z")
“To **be** missing” is describing a state of being (or non-being, I suppose). To **go** missing" is idiomatic, synonymous (as said) with “to become missing,” and more specifically connotes the initial transition from presence to absence. In other words, “Joe **went** missing ten years ago. He **has been** missing for ten years.” See the distinction? ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/10 "2005-01-26T14:17:35Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > The one that sounds wrong to me is “found missing.” > > “He checked her office at 3pm and she was found missing.” I understand there’s an implied “to be” in there - she was found to be missing - but even that sounds wrong. cf. she was found guilty. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/11 "2005-01-26T14:25:55Z")
I have only run across the “went missing” phrase in settings that involve British or Australian dialects. I have always assumed it was a peculiarity of the phrasing in those dialects, sort of like saying “She’s in hospital” instead of “She’s in _the_ hospital.” ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/12 "2005-01-26T16:31:06Z")
> [@TwoTrouts](#): > > I have only run across the “went missing” phrase in settings that involve British or Australian dialects. I have always assumed it was a peculiarity of the phrasing in those dialects, sort of like saying “She’s in hospital” instead of “She’s in _the_ hospital.” It’s used all the time in Saskatchewan. I’ve never heard the expression “she’s in hospital” before, though. Just pointing out that it’s not entirely a British/Australian thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/13 "2005-01-26T16:41:27Z")
“Went missing” is completely normal here in Southern Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-missing-proper-grammar/286734/14 "2005-01-26T16:51:54Z")
My coffee cup went missing this morning. I was (sluggishly) frantic for a while, but then I **found it back**.