Dove or Dived

“DOVE” OR “DIVED” The verb “ dive ” has both an irregular and regular form. You can use both and both are correct. Speakers in North America use dove while the British seem to prefer dived . “Dived” is the traditional past tense and past participle of “to dive,” but “dove” has crept in over the last two centuries — particularly in the US. This is probably a result of the verb “to drive” (with its past tense “drove”) becoming more common. Historically, dive was a weak verb, so its past tense was dived. Dove is a relative newcomer, probably formed by analogy with drive–drove or strive–strove.