Can we say he was convicted the hung? Is it grammatically right or just an informal sentence? I've seen sentences like 'Sentenced to hang'. But i don't have any idea about this.
1 Answer
The verb to hang
has to distinct past tenses: hanged and hung. When we hang a painting, the painting was hung.
When we put a noose around someones head, however, that person is hanged.
When you are convicted, you are convicted of a crime. Because of that conviction, you can be punished, and the declaration of that punishment is a sentence.
So you are not convicted to be hanged, you are indeed sentenced to be hanged.
The complete process could be:
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang (or to be hanged).
Which, as @Jim mentions, can be shortened to:
He was convicted and hanged.
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1I am not really sure what you think "the hung" means, but it refers to the person who suffered the hanging. Though it is likely that that person at some point prior to the hanging was convicted, it is uncommon to convict someone (of a crime) after he has already been put to death - and that is what "convicted the hung" would mean. It would be correct in a (far-fetched) scenario where some people have committed so many crimes, they are convicted even after death: "In answer to the public outcry, the court also convicted the hung posthumously of genocide" - implying they were hung for murder. Jan 29, 2014 at 8:38
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@ Vijay. Yes, this means that convicted the hung is wrong usage. It's not English, not even idiomatic of slang. oerkelens explained very nicely the correct way to express this thought.– BabsJan 29, 2014 at 11:32
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@oerkelens, actually it wouldn't even be correct in that scenario because you would still refer to the executed person as "the hanged."– HellionJan 29, 2014 at 15:30
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@Hellion you are correct, of course :) They could be the hung-over, but that would certainly change the meaning of the phrase... Jan 29, 2014 at 15:33