Do I write I was awoken from my sleep or I was woken from my sleep? Which is correct?
Favorite Answer
Both are correct.
The passive forms of these verbs are the same as the passive forms of to speak. We would say “Angry words have been spoken,” and we would say “The children have been woken/awoken/woken up by the thunder.”
You’d better read and study the following Usage Note:
Usage Note: The pairs wake, waken and awake, awaken have formed a bewildering array since the Middle English period. All four words have similar meanings, though there are some differences in use. Only wake is used in the sense “to be awake,” as in expressions like waking (not wakening) and sleeping, every waking hour. Wake is also more common than waken when used together with up, and awake and awaken never occur in this context: She woke up (rarely wakened up; never awakened up or awoke up). Some writers have suggested that waken should be used only transitively (as in The alarm wakened him) and awaken only intransitively (as in He awakened at dawn), but there is ample literary precedent for usages such as He wakened early and They did not awaken her. In figurative senses awake and awaken are more prevalent: With the governor’s defeat the party awoke to the strength of the opposition to its position on abortion. The scent of the gardenias awakened my memory of his unexpected appearance that afternoon years ago.
‘Awoken” is technically a word, but it is awkward.
She was waked, she awoke, she has awoken.
I woke up, I was woken up.
He awakens, he awakened, he has awakened.
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