Brung, brang

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Grammarist

Brought is the standard past tense and past participle form of the verb bring. The dialectical variants brang and brung are somewhat common throughout the U.S., but they might be considered out of place formal writing. Unless you’re quoting speech or trying to create a folksy tone, brought is safer than brang or brung.

The only exception is in the expression dance with the one who brung you (and variants), which usually relates to sports. It refers to the wisdom of sticking with players and coaches who have won consistently.

Examples

In news publications, brang and brung usually appear in quoted speech—for example:

“It brung me back to sitting in my mother’s living room, and looking at her piano and playing it,” he said. [Minnesota Public Radio]

“I said, ‘Well, it’s my business now, because you brung [sic] me into it,'” Coltrane said. [Fox News]

“I think we have brung (sic) our best guys, the most balanced team we have.” [Herald Sun]

Mr. Stanley talks of how death “brung together” his mother and father, and how he was “borned and raised way back in the hills.” [New York Times]

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