Re: Spelt vs Spelled


"Ultraviolet" <violette@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Two roads diverged in a yellow froup when Josh Hill
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Burn Burnt OR burned


I would probably write:

"I burned the cupcakes."

"The cupcakes are burnt."

Hmm.

Ah, but burned would never work in that famous line from
"Hatter's Castle" (especially when spoken by Robert Newton as the
evil Hatter):-

"Woman! Ye've burrrrnt the toast again!"


Dream dreamt OR dreamed


I generally use dreamt.

But now it looks funny.

Dreamt, dreamt, dreamt. Ack!

Again, "I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls" wouldn't seem right
with dreamed and dwelled , would it?

Lean leant OR leaned

Probably either or, depending on conext.

Learn learnt OR learned

"ed"

In this case I'd probably choose learnt for past tense but
mainly because the other is so often used in the sense of "our
learned friend."

Smell smelt OR smelled


Never smelt. Isn't it something else? Looks weird.

I agree. (But perhaps smelt for bad smells and smelled for good
ones:- the fish smelt rotten but the roses smelled good?)

Spell spelt OR spelled
Spill spilt OR spilled


"Spilt milk" looks right. But any other beverages are spilled.

Either or? Spilt the milk, spilled the beans?

Spoil spoilt OR spoiled


Spoiled.

I'm so inconsistent!

Not really. Isn't it often just a case of p. and p.p. -- "the
child was spoiled" but "the child has been spoilt"?

Unfortunately, even the various dictionaries seem to disagree on
these finer points.

Bernie.

--
UV
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http://paula-light.blogspot.com
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