Word Wise: Should I Use Pled or Pleaded

Should I use pled or pleaded as the past tense of plea? Neither of these two are necessarily wrong, which can make the decision harder to make. Here are a few technical aspects to help you make your decision.

Pled, is it a Mistake?

Every writing tool I have used since researching and writing this post told me that pled is nothing but a spelling mistake. Even though this post would have been a lot shorter if I could just say "Don't use 'pled', as it's a spelling mistake", it's not necessarily true.

Pled is mentioned as a colloquial past tense form in the AP Stylebook, and in other modern books, pleaded is considered the better choice. Pled is also used in some text, such as in the U.S Supreme court (you can read about the study here). However, the amount it is used is considerably less than pleaded's usage.

So, Should I Use Pled or Pleaded?

Although certain parts of the world accepts pled with open arms, it is used in the minority. This might cause a few issues. I won't tell you what to use, but I will say that the safer choice would be to use the norm. Yet, you don't have to conform if you don't want to, considering that pled is not incorrect.  

Last Thoughts

The key in regards to choosing the right form of the word is not necessarily about the technical aspects. It is about remembering your choice and sticking with it. Create a document with your house rules (the grammatical decisions you make and will stick by in all your books) and add your choice to it. You will never need to ask yourself whether you should use pled or pleaded again.

If you have any confusing words you want me to blog about, let me know below and I will get right on it!

Image credit: Gavel, taken by Geoffrey Whiteway on Free Range Stock. Edited by myself.