Word Confusion: Heard versus Herd

Third person present verb: hears
Past tense or past participle: heard
Present participle: hearing

Plural for the noun: herds
Gerund: herding

Third person present verb: herds
Past tense or past participle: herded
Present participle: herding

• [have heard of] Be aware of
• Know of the existence of
• [hear from] Be contacted by someone, especially by letter or telephone
• [will not hear of, would not hear of] Will or would not allow or agree to

Verb, transitive:
Perceive with the ear the sound made by someone or something

• Be told or informed of
• Listen or pay attention to
• [hear someone out] Listen to all that someone has to say
• [Law] Listen to and judge a case or plaintiff
• Listen to and grant a prayer

• [Derogatory] A large group of people, typically with a shared characteristic

Verb, intransitive:
[With adverbial of direction; refers to a group of people or animals] Move in a particular direction

To unite or go in a herd

• Assemble or associate as a herd

Verb, transitive:
[With adverbial of direction; with reference to a group of people or animals] Move in a particular direction

Keep or look after livestock

Nobody had ever heard of my college.

We heard from John.

He’d never heard of such idiocy!

Verb, transitive:
She had never been heard to complain.

Have you heard the news?

They heard that I had moved.

She hasn’t heard a word I’m telling her.

Joseph gravely heard them out but never offered advice.

It was an all-woman jury who heard the case.

Our Heavenly Father has heard our prayers.

Joe had to sell off his herd of Herefords and Guernseys.

I doubted getting that ice cream any time soon with that herd of children in front of me.

Join the herd, brother.

Watch out! There’s a herd of bicycles coming our way!

“Herd immunity happens when so many people in a community become immune to an infectious disease that it stops the disease from spreading” (Iftikhar).

Verb, intransitive:
On our European tour, we were herded everywhere.

John and James will herd.

The children were herded along.

Verb, transitive:
The teachers herded the children indoors.

Don’t worry about getting lost, they’ll herd us along in the right direction.

They were herded onto a bus.

They live by herding reindeer.

They must give them clothes, look after their garden, herd their cattle, sheep and goats, build their grain stores and houses.

Using mobile electric fencing, Jim herds his cattle through the fields daily to strip-graze concurrent sections.