forego/forgo

If you skip dessert, will you forego or forgo it?

Forego is to precede or come before.

Forgo (without an ā€œeā€) is to do without.

The introductory paragraph should forego the body of your essay.

I decided to forgo buying a new car in order to save money.

In most cases, the intended word is probably forgo, but the ā€œeā€ is inserted, resulting in a spelling error. (Forego is not as commonly used.)

Posted in Word Choice.

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3 Comments:

  1. Astor says:

    Is “forgo” in the list of verbs which used with gerunds?
    I can forgo your coming or I can forgo whether you come?

    • Tom says:

      What is the past tense of ‘forgo’? I believe the present past is “I have forgone”, but is the past “I forwent”?
      I enjoy English grammar, but sometimes it gets a little confusing!