Word Confusion: Choose versus Chose

Posted January 29, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
4 Nov 2022

What is it about words that use one o or two os and how badly people mix these up??

In this case, choose is the present tense while chose is the past tense. If you’re wondering about chosen, it’s a past participle that sometimes swings into the past perfect.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Choose	Chose
Belgian Chocolates by Frank Wouters from Antwerpen, Belgium, [Flickr] is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Try it. Try and choose just one.	He Chose . . . Poorly is courtesy of Big Soccer.
Part of Grammar:
Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: chooses Past tense: chose Past participle: chosen Present participle: choosing	Past tense of choose
Verb, intransitive: Pick out or select someone or something as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives Decide on a course of action, typically after rejecting alternatives Verb, transitive: Pick out or select someone or something as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives
Examples:
Verb, intransitive: I’ll stay as long as I choose. Now it’s my turn to choose. Peter chooses to go. You may stay here at the house, if you choose. Verb, transitive: Choose which one you want. There is little to choose from. I cannot choose but step up and help. How can Sadie choose between them?	Verb, intransitive: He chose to go. He has chosen to go. She chose to stay at the house. She had chosen to stay at the house. Verb, transitive: He chose a seat facing the door. He had chosen a seat facing the door. You chose the one you wanted. She had chosen the one she wanted. It is my chosen profession. Your designs have been chosen for the performance. We chose Mary as most valuable player. Mary was chosen as most valuable player. Legend: Green indicates the past participle (You may want to explore the past perfect as well.)
Derivatives:
Adjective: choice, choosable, unchoosable Noun: choice, chooser, choosing Verb: prechoose, prechose, prechosen, prechoosing, rechoose, rechose, rechosen, rechoosing	Adjective: chosen
History of the Word:
Old English cēosan, of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch kiezen.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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