Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: shape / shaped / shaped.

shape / shaped / shaped. The archaic past participle “shapen” exists only in the forms “misshapen,” “ill-shapen,” and “well-shapen.” The latter two, though much less common than “misshapen,” still occur — e.g.: o “At the back of the restaurant, the Pinup Lounge pays homage to Vargas Girls, those idealized images of well-shapen women painted by Alberto Vargas during and after World War II and for years afterwards.” Matt Kelley, “Runza Pioneer Sitting Back in the Saddle,” Omaha World-Herald, 28 May 1995, Bus. §, at 1. o “He gave to every worthy cause and outstretched palm that found its way to his corner office in ill-shapen, yellow-bricked Cleveland Municipal Stadium.” Jon Morgan, “Life of a Salesman,” Baltimore Sun, 19 Apr. 1997, at D1. For information about the Language-Change Index click here. ——————– Quotation of the Day: “If you are interested in advancing your own education, you will use a dictionary according to its primary intention — as a help in reading books that might otherwise be too difficult because their vocabulary includes technical words used in now obsolete senses.” Mortimer Adler, “How to Read a Dictionary” (1941), in A Language Reader for Writers 37, 37 (James R. Gaskin & Jack Suberman eds., 1966).
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