How to spell brought

hear itbrought/brɔt/verbSilent and tricky

What it means: To have taken something to a place.

In a sentence: We brought cookies to the party.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as broght or brougt.

Same family: bring, bringing, brings, broughten, brought-up. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Brought” is the irregular past tense of “bring” and comes from Old English “brengan” and “brohte.” The unusual spelling with “-ough-” reflects old pronunciation changes in English that make it look much different from how it sounds today.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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