Rise, Risen, Rose, Rising
Rise means to get up or move upward; it is an action done by a person, animal, or object. The past tense of rise is rose, the present continuous tense is rising, and the present perfect tense is has risen (or have risen if the subject is plural).
Singular subject:
- The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. (present)
- The sun rose in the east and set in the west. (past)
- The sun is rising in the east. (present continuous)
- The sun has always risen in the east and set in the west. (present perfect)
- The sun will rise in the east and set in the west. (future)
Plural subject:
- We rise early in the morning and go for a run. (present)
- We rose early in the morning and went for a run. (past)
- We are rising early in the morning these days and going for morning runs. (present continuous)
- We will rise early in the morning and go for a run. (future).
Raise, Raised, Raising
Raise means to bring something up, so it requires an object (raise is something that a person, animal, or thing does to something else). In the following sentences, the objects are paw, flag, and educational standards.
- The dog raises a paw to greet its owner. They raise the flag. The school’s administrators try to raise educational standards. (present)
- They raised the flag yesterday. The dog raised its paw. The school’s administrators tried to raise educational standards. (past)
- They are raising the flag. The dog is raising its paw. The school’s administrators are trying to raise educational standards. (present continuous)
- They have raised the flag each morning for three months. The dog has always raised its paw when its owner gives the command. The school’s administrators have been trying to raise educational standards. (present perfect)
- They had raised the flag each morning for three months. The dog had always raised its paw when its owner gave the command. The school’s administrators had been trying to raise educational standards. (past perfect)
- They will raise the flag tomorrow morning. The dog will raise its paw when its owner gives the command. The school’s administrators will try to raise educational standards. (future)
There are a number of idiomatic expressions that also use raise:
- She raised the alarm. (She warned others of danger.)
- He didn’t raise a finger. (He did nothing to help; lift a finger is also used in this type of expression.)
- Her joke raised a smile from the depressed patient. (Her joke caused the unhappy patient to smile.)
- They raised the roof during his wedding celebration. (They made the building reverberate with their loud, enthusiastic shouting, singing, clapping, and other celebratory actions.)
- He raised the roof when he saw the damage caused by the party. (He complained loudly and noisily about the damage.)
Arise, Arisen, Arising, Arose
Arise is typically used in a more abstract way to indicate that something has come into being and been noticed. For example:
- An opportunity will often arise during a crisis.
- A number of problems arose during the final phase of the project.
- Many issues have arisen that need to be addressed.
- New possibilities are arising every day.
However, arise can also be used as a formal, old-fashioned version of rise:
- Arise and face a new day!
- She arose at dawn to start her quest.
See the main Grammar, Punctuation, and Writer Resources pages for more tips and resources.
References:
- BBC World Service. (n.d.). “Rise, Arose and Raise.” BBC.co.uk.
- Collins. (2013). “Raise the Roof.” American English Dictionary. CollinsDictionary.com.
- O’Conner, P. T. (1996). Woe Is I, the Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons.