Teacher Discussion Forums

Ii think the same error happens with learned and learnt. Be careful you don't get burned or burnt on your next test.

I thought it was a difference is American/British English, and not an error. (Sorry don't know about the other "Englishes.")

Some verbs can be both regular and irregular. Where this is so, many British people tend towards the irregular variant (myself included). However, students of English already have enough irregular verbs to learn, so I usually teach the regular verb form in class.

Me too. But I wonder if I wouldn't almost always favour "burnt toast".

It's worth pointing out that /l/ and /m/ and /n/ don't have unvoiced equivalents so you can't ruin the pronunciation of the final consonant of the root by pronouncing spelled, spoiled, spilled, learned and burned with a final /t/.

Lept, leant, dreamt, and knelt are a bit different of course because the irregular option involves a second change in pronunciation. Does anyone spell them regularly but pronounce them irregularly?

Oh I think I never heard of "leant."

Once upon a time, whenever I saw learned, the first word to spring to mind was the adjective learn-ed (as in a learned professor), but age has mellowed me and I now use context to decide which it is.

Isn't this just a difference between American/British English?

learned / learnt
burned / burnt
lended / leant
dreamed / dreamt
smelled / smelt
spelled / spelt
spilled / spilt
spoiled / spoilt

I have used many of these myself and have heard them used in common conversation in the US. In the US this may be another example of register and the adopting of English pronunciation as symbol of class.

What about bent/bended?

Korean scientists are very fond of the word "bended". Any native speakers slipping down that road? I guess I might be soon if I read too much more Korean science, which will make me look odd but will at least confound a few extremist descriptivists who think that such things never happen.

As to speaking like the English to look classy, that is a very good idea. My North Am. colleagues often tell me in wonder that my son speaks like Prince Charles or is "very articulate" etc. He simply has my mundane slightly Londonized/ruralized southern RP English accent.

There is nevertheless a subtle difference between a spelling change with a small pronunciation difference:

burned/burnt

learned/learnt (leaving aside "my learnéd friend")

and so on


and a whopping great difference in pronunciation:

leaned/leant

dreamed/dreamt

leaped/leapt/lept.

The verbs in the first group are almost examples of spelling variations.