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How shall I describe this happening using the proper verb:

  • When we were moving to the new house the workes who were carrying the furniture were really careless and they.................the dresser's side OR the dresser's side was................

Which one of the folloing verbs normally are used here and in this sense:

a) grinded - was grounded
b) scratched - was scratched

I need to know the better choice if these words don't sound idiomatic to you.enter image description here

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  • How about "scraped - was scraped"?
    – holydragon
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 9:09
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    Why not just use damaged as you did in the title of your question? That's the most idiomatic verb here. When talking about movers, the general damaged is probably used far more often than any other specific verb. (Broken would also be very common—but wouldn't apply in the specific context of this question.)
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 17:51
  • Yes! You're right! It's probabely the most common word for this situation, but @Jason Bassford, actually I was looking for sth more more spesific than "to damage sth" and "to be damaged" in my question. However, thank you very much for pointing that out.
    – A-friend
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 7:05

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Grinding usually assumes that a special tool is used, and there is an intention to that action.

Note: The participle for "to grind" is "ground", not "grounded". "Grounded" is the participle from "to ground".

Therefore, "to scratch / was scratched" is the better alternative.

Another suitable word is "to scrape / was scraped".

However, the shape of the damage dictates the correct word.

If the shape is a pattern of lines, then the proper word is scratch.

If the shape is an indefinite bruise, then the proper word is scraped.

The analysis of the picture provided gets us to the conclusion that scratch is the proper word in this situation. Lines are clearly visible.

Please see this question and answers for some additional pictures, applied to a different context.

According to the discussion on this page (not much voted yet), the correct way to say is:

the furniture is

instead of

the furniture are

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