‘Borrow’ or ‘Lend’?

Sometimes people run afoul of standard grammar if they use the word “borrow” when they should have used “lend” or say “lend” when they should have said “borrow.” The confusion is understandable, since borrowing and lending are both actions related to one transaction, and in some dialects people do say things such as “Can you borrow me some money? or “Can I lend your pen?” But in Standard English, those two actions are different, and the words “borrow” and “lend” aren’t interchangeable because they involve different actions and mean different things. To understand the difference in meaning between “borrow” and “lend” and when to use which word, let’s look at two examples from literature.

'Borrow' examples from children’s fantasy

British author Mary Norton wrote a series of children’s fantasy books about tiny people who were called “borrowers.” In fact, the first book in her series was simply titled “The Borrowers.” Pod and Homily Clock and their daughter, Arrietty, are the main characters in the book series. 

In the first book, they start out living in the space under the floorboards of a house where “giant” people live, whom Arrietty calls “human beans.” The Clocks have friends and relatives with different last names, such as the Harpsichords, Rain-Barrels, Overmantels, Boot-Racks, and Bell-Pulls, but all of them are called “borrowers” because everything they use to furnish their tiny homes in secret places is borrowed from the people who live in the house. 

A spool of thread serves as a table, a postage stamp adorns a wall like a picture, and matchboxes stacked on top of each other make for a chest of drawers for the “borrowers.” Sometimes when the “human beans” can’t find something, they blame it on the “borrowers.” 

In that book series, the “borrowers” don’t outright ask for the things they borrow because that would blow their cover. However, if they were to ask, it would be grammatically incorrect for them to say, “Would you borrow me a thimble, so I could use it as a pail?” Instead, if they want to be speaking Standard English, it would be correct for them to say, “Would you lend me a thimble?” or “May I borrow a thimble?” 

Or, to think of it another way, it would be correct for the “giants” in the house to say to the tiny people, “Do you want to borrow a thimble?” or “Would you like us to lend you a thimble?” But it would...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips