Depends on the context. If it's formal narrative, sneaked (or have you considered 'crept' instead?) I'd use 'snuck' in slighly humorous dialog or pov narrative (Dean's pov, for instance).
Yeah, I only ever use snuck in dialog, when it would suit the character and their present mood. In narrative it's sneaked all the way. Or, as someone mentioned upstream, crept.
From its earliest appearance in print in the late 19th century as a dialectal and probably uneducated form, the past and past participle snuck has risen to the status of standard and to approximate equality with sneaked. It is most common in the United States and Canada but has also been spotted in British and Australian English.
Snuck is used in American and Canadian English as the past tense and past participle of sneak, but it is considered non-standard, i.e., ol for dialectal and informal speech and writing. The standard past tense is sneaked. Snuck is relatively new, an Americanism introduced in the late 19th century. The opposite has occurred to the past form of slink. Slunk was long the standard form, but then slinked appeared and is encroaching on slunk. Slinked is considered non-standard. Style guides at some of the biggest newspapers in Canada and the United States - including the Globe and Mail (1998) and the New York Times (1999) - ban snuck. But snuck may tiptoe into more formal writing over the years.
usage: First recorded in writing near the end of the 19th century in the U.S., snuck has become in recent decades a standard variant past tense and past participle: Bored by the lecture, we snuck out the side door. snuck occurs frequently in fiction, in journalism, and on radio and television, whereas sneaked is more likely in highly formal or belletristic writing. snuck is the only spoken past tense and past participle for many younger and middle-aged persons of all educational levels in the U.S. and Canada. It has occasionally been considered nonstandard but is so widely used by professional writers and educated speakers that it can no longer be so regarded. Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary,.
Sneaked vs. snuck Sneaked is the traditional past tense and past participle of sneak. Snuck is new, originating in the U.S. in the early 20th century, but it has become remarkably common across all main English varieties. People seem to like it, and it appears in even the most editorially scrupulous publications, so at this stage there is no basis for saying snuck is incorrect. It’s just new. English has many irregular verb forms, and adding one more won’t cause harm.
In American news publications, sneaked is marginally more common than snuck, and in Canada snuck actually appears twice as often as sneaked. The two words are neck and neck in Australian and New Zealand publications, and in British publications sneaked is about twice as common as snuck. These figures are based on unscientific research, but it’s safe to say British writers shun snuck to a greater degree than the rest of us.
When in doubt, it’s usually better to go with the older form—sneaked, in this case—but there’s nothing wrong with using snuck. Just watch out for English traditionalists with peeves.
***** My apologies, I'm a grammar teacher ;). Use it, esp if it is for an SPN fic.
It's more evocative. Sneaked/snuck doesn't really have any particular emotional weight. Crept feels spookier, sort of dim and dusty and "what did I just see out of the corner of my eye?" you know?
Follow up question--did I punctuate that correctly? :)
Crept was the first word i thought of too!!!! I had no idea if it work in the context of the sentence though. Your flist is rather awesome :) 'Great minds think alike' or 'Fools never differ', depending on your mood!!
I use "snuck" a lot, despite it not making much sense. We don't create a past tense/participle/whatever from any other word that ends in "eak" that way:
It felt right, and sneaked felt goofy, so I did what I usually do after asking help--went with a different word. Everybody suggested crept so I went with it and it worked nicely. I did want to use snuck though....*G*
The old house cruck in the night...the doors and windows luck with the force of the storm raging outside.
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What's the sentence that's troubling you?
xxx
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it's this one!
He closed his eyes and a memory crept up on him, a long time ago—a decade gone by.
Crept seems much less clunky than the original, right?
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Snuck is used in American and Canadian English as the past tense and past participle of sneak, but it is considered non-standard, i.e., ol for dialectal and informal speech and writing. The standard past tense is sneaked. Snuck is relatively new, an Americanism introduced in the late 19th century. The opposite has occurred to the past form of slink. Slunk was long the standard form, but then slinked appeared and is encroaching on slunk. Slinked is considered non-standard. Style guides at some of the biggest newspapers in Canada and the United States - including the Globe and Mail (1998) and the New York Times (1999) - ban snuck. But snuck may tiptoe into more formal writing over the years.
usage: First recorded in writing near the end of the 19th century in the U.S., snuck has become in recent decades a standard variant past tense and past participle: Bored by the lecture, we snuck out the side door. snuck occurs frequently in fiction, in journalism, and on radio and television, whereas sneaked is more likely in highly formal or belletristic writing. snuck is the only spoken past tense and past participle for many younger and middle-aged persons of all educational levels in the U.S. and Canada. It has occasionally been considered nonstandard but is so widely used by professional writers and educated speakers that it can no longer be so regarded.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary,.
Sneaked vs. snuck
Sneaked is the traditional past tense and past participle of sneak. Snuck is new, originating in the U.S. in the early 20th century, but it has become remarkably common across all main English varieties. People seem to like it, and it appears in even the most editorially scrupulous publications, so at this stage there is no basis for saying snuck is incorrect. It’s just new. English has many irregular verb forms, and adding one more won’t cause harm.
In American news publications, sneaked is marginally more common than snuck, and in Canada snuck actually appears twice as often as sneaked. The two words are neck and neck in Australian and New Zealand publications, and in British publications sneaked is about twice as common as snuck. These figures are based on unscientific research, but it’s safe to say British writers shun snuck to a greater degree than the rest of us.
When in doubt, it’s usually better to go with the older form—sneaked, in this case—but there’s nothing wrong with using snuck. Just watch out for English traditionalists with peeves.
*****
My apologies, I'm a grammar teacher ;). Use it, esp if it is for an SPN fic.
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I used snuck when I couldn't figure out what other word to use and then I discovered I was doing it wrong. But snuck is gold for comedy! :D
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Oy, this thing is full of clunky bits. So much work!!
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You are amazing. Thank you!
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:D
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(Anonymous) 2014-09-14 05:34 am (UTC)(link)Follow up question--did I punctuate that correctly? :)
--Jessica
Re: it's this one!
Your flist is rather awesome :)
'Great minds think alike' or 'Fools never differ', depending on your mood!!
xxx
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Creak -/-> Cruck
Freak -/-> Fruck
Leak -/-> Luck
Peak -/-> Puck
So why:
Sneak --> Snuck?
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The old house cruck in the night...the doors and windows luck with the force of the storm raging outside.
I don't know, I kinda like it!
*HUUUUUUUUUUGS*
Hey you!! Good to see you! :D