[Vocabulary] shred/ rip /tear

[BrunaBC]

Which of these verbs (shred, rip, tear) is correct when refering to paper? (or perhaps other verbs that I don't know yet)

She ripped her certificate in a burst of anger. (Is it right?)

And regarding clothes? I believe it's tear, but I'm not sure.

I've torn my best dress on a pin last night.

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Which of these verbs (shred, rip, tear) is correct when refering to paper? (or perhaps other verbs that I don't know yet)

She ripped her certificate in a burst of anger. (Is it right?)
In BrE, we would probably use "to rip up" or "to tear up" here. They are slightly different from "to rip" and "to tear". If you simply rip or tear a piece of paper, you might only damage a small part of it but it would still be one single piece of paper. If you rip it up or tear it up then you damage it badly and it ends up in several smaller pieces.
"She ripped up/tore up her certificate in anger." (We don't usually say a "burst of anger".)

And regarding clothes? I believe it's tear, but I'm not sure.

I've torn my best dress on a pin last night.
You can use either "to tear" or "to rip" here but you need the present simple. "I tore/ripped my dress on a pin last night."

Thank you.

See above. "To shred" means to tear something into a lot of very small pieces. It's what we do to confidential documents when we want to make it (almost) impossible for anyone to put the pieces back together and read the contents.

 

[BrunaBC]

Of course it has to be a simple past tense, because I mentioned when it happened (last night).

Thank you so much, I knew there should be a phrasal verb, but couldn't realise it.

Have a nice weekend