GREEN for RIGHT
RED for WRONG
These words are inextricably linked with victory and defeat.
won is the past tense and past participle of the verb win
beat is a seed verb and is also used for the past tense
beaten is the past participle of beat
When expressing news of victory or defeat, the words get mixed up.
We won the match.
We won them.
We beat them.
We were beat.
We were beaten.
We won 5-0.
We won them 5-0.
We beat them 5-0.
We were beat 5-0.
We were beaten 5-0.
Whilst on this topic, a draw (neither defeat nor victory) can be a good result at times. The past tense of the verb draw is drew and not drawed. The past participle of draw is drawn, and the present participle is drawing.
We drawed 2-2.
We drew 2-2.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw. (draw = noun)
I think that we’re going to draw this match. (draw = verb)
We drawed with them.
We drew with them.
Finally, being gracious in defeat is a good character-builder. None of us likes to lose, but to misspell the word lose can be even more of a heartbreak.
There is only one o in lose, loser, loses, losing and lost.
If someone spells lose as loose, tell that person that (s)he is a loose cannon with regard to spellings and to ‘get lost‘ in the dictionary.
loose = not firmly attached & loose cannon = not reliable
The button was loose; it became detached later on and fell into the sand; now, it’s lost.
The play was loose; we didn’t get enough of the ball; we lost badly in the end.