Past Tense of Ring | Definition, Use & Examples
Ring is an irregular verb used to describe the act of making something (e.g., a bell) produce a ringing sound or the act of making a call on a phone (e.g., “Steph said she would ring her friends tomorrow”). The simple past of ring is “rang,” and the past participle, used to form perfect tenses and the passive voice, is “rung.”
Ring is also a verb with a different meaning, used to describe encircling something (e.g., “to ring a bird’s leg”). This meaning of the verb has a different past tense and past participle: “ringed.”
| To sound a bell or to make a phone call | To encircle something | |
|---|---|---|
| Past tense | rang | ringed |
| Past participle | rung | ringed |
Rang, rung, and ringed in a sentence
Depending on the context, rang, ringed, and rung can all be correct.
| Examples: Rang in a sentence | Example: Rung in a sentence | Example: Ringed in a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| The bells rang at midnight to mark the New Year. | Although the bell had rung ages ago, the classroom was still half empty. | A tall fence ringed the whole property. |
| Jim rang Silas’s number for ages with no luck. | She picked up the receiver, but the caller had rung off. | By the end of the season more than 90 percent of the birds had been ringed. |
What is the past tense of ring?
When ring refers to the act of causing a bell or a phone to make a sound, then the simple past is “rang” (e.g., “The church bells rang out across the land”). Sometimes people use “rung” but this is incorrect.
- The phone rang unanswered in the echoing hallway.
- The phone rung unanswered in the echoing hallway.
When ring refers to the act of putting a circle of material or people around something, the simple past is “ringed” (e.g., “The students held hands and ringed the court to honor their team”).
- The footpaths ringed the park in two concentric circles.
- The end-of-school bell ringed, much to everyone’s relief!
What is the past participle of ring?
The past participle of ring when it means “to make a bell sound” is rung (e.g., “Even though the bell had rung, no one appeared for the lesson”). It is never correct to use “rang” in this context.
The past participle of ring when it means to surround something is ringed (e.g., “The prison was ringed with multiple fences made of razor wire”).
Frequently asked questions about the past tense of ring
- What is the past participle of ring?
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The past participle of the irregular verb ring, meaning “cause a bell or phone to make a sound,” is rung. The past participle is used to form perfect tenses and the passive voice (e.g., “The church bells had rung for hours in celebration;” “The doorbell had been rung”).
Sometimes you will see “rang” used as a past participle, but this is incorrect. It is the simple past tense of “ring.”
When ring means “encircle something” then the simple past and past participle are ringed (e.g., “The baseball ground was ringed with bleachers”).
You can check that your writing is accurate by using the QuillBot Grammar Checker.
- Is it rang or rung?
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Rang is the simple past of the irregular verb ring meaning “cause a bell to make a noise” (e.g., “For the first time in her life, Ellie rang the end-of-lesson bell”).
Rung is the past participle of the verb ring when it has that same meaning. It is used to form the perfect tenses and passive voice (e.g., “The alarm bell had rung before, so nobody took any notice”).
The QuillBot Grammar Checker is a quick and easy way of checking your grammar when you write.
- What is a synonym for rang?
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Depending on the context, there are several synonyms or near-synonyms for rang. For making a bell ring these include:
- Sounded
- Chimed
- Tolled
- Pealed
For making a call on the phone, they include:
- Called
- Dialed
- Phoned
- Telephoned
To bring variety to your writing you can use the QuillBot Paraphrasing Tool.
- Is it ringed or rang?
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Both ringed and rang are correct, but ringed is more unusual. The correct simple past tense of the irregular verb ring meaning “cause a bell to make a sound” or “call someone on the phone” is rang.
The verb ring, meaning “encircle” or “surround” has the simple past and past participle form ringed.
You can check your grammar easily with a QuillBot grammar check.
