Scuba dove? Scuba dived?

[euromarkus2]

It's "Dived" not "Dove, but unlike "Hanged", it's not an irregular verb.

Diving is short for "Scuba Diving", "Free Diving", etc

Just like "Hang Gliding" -- and we would never say, "Yesterday I Hung Glided".

"Dived" doesn't mean you jumped in the water -- you "Scuba Dived". So you wouldn't say, "Yesterday I Scuba Dove".

To wrap your head around it, insert the implied "scuba" in there.

"Yesterday I dove into the pool, then I [scuba] dived, then I hang glided"

 

[Kern]

"Yesterday I dove into the pool, then I [scuba] dived, then I hang glided"

If you keep this up, you'll get bended.

 

[Deefstes]

If you keep this up, you'll get bended.

I just spitted my coffee over my keyboard when I read this :spit:

 

[grammaticus]

Actually, the word comes from the Old English (OE) word dufan which is a second-class strong verb, which means that it's irregular so the vowel <u> changes. Therefore, "dove" would still be considered correct, since the origin is OE and a lot of OE words are still used in modern English. This is similar to "sing", which is also an OE word singan, again it's a third-class strong verb, which means that the vowel <i> changes. Similar to sing, sang, sung; although, you hear people, incorrectly, say singed - at least I have heard it.

In the US, we use "dove", which takes on the old conjugation of "to dive", so "dove" is correct. In the UK, they would probably say "dived" - I lived there for some years, but I never heard "dived" before, but it can be used.

By the way, while "scuba dive" could be a verb - to scuba dive - I wouldn't agree with that. SCUBA is an acronym and only relatively recently converted into a verb, or noun, whatever...

 

[rk288]

Right, SCUBA is an acronym so it needs special treatment in order to be used eloquently in conversation or literature.

First "dived" is just plain wrong, period, end of story..."dove" is preferred except when used with an acronym...

past perfect - went SCUBA diving both singular and plural.
future - going SCUBA diving; will be SCUBA diving
present - We are SCUBA diving!!!

"diving" is the skeleton key you've been looking for