"Can you point out the grain that attacked you, ma'am?"
These two pairs have long troubled me gently, and it came to a head last week when someone impertinently commented on Facebook (where, for reasons you need not worry about, I was talking about ‘commonly misspelt words’) ‘”Misspelt”?! “Misspelled”, please.’
To deal with spell first, here’s the thing. The Guardian style guide specifies spelled for the past tense and spelt for the past participle, The Times prefers spelt in both instances, The Economist says spelled is American English and spelt is British English and healthfood shops tell us spelt is a more primitive form of wheat. Then there’s the OED, which says both are fine but lists spelled first, and Collins, which agrees but lists spelt first.
Is learn any simpler? Nope. Now, my first chief sub told me to spell it learnt, so as not to confuse it with the adjective learned, as in ‘he’s a learned man’. The Guardian style guide, however, says not to write learnt ‘unless you are writing old-fashioned poetry’. The Economist says learnt is British English and learned is American English and The Times prefers learnt in both instances. Collins and the OED agree that either spelling is fine, and both list learned first.
Fowler, in a rare show of tolerance, acknowledges both learned and learnt, spelled and spelt, though he notes that the -t endings are more common in British English, and that learned is more common as the past form.
Right then. That’s as clear as mud. So, what do people actually do? I asked the question on Twitter, and discovered that they do all kinds of things. There was a slight preference for -t endings (most of my followers are British, so that makes sense), a lot of confusion and a few preferences, but none of the usual tubthumping. Basically, we’re all a bit unsure.
Do I have an answer? Not really, beyond that if someone starts throwing ‘?!’ combinations at you on Facebook, you’re well within your rights to tell them to bugger orf.
As a general rule, it seems that -t endings are a trait peculiar to the British, and as such have some connotations of old-fashionedness. If you’re writing for an international audience, you may wish to switch to -ed, but otherwise, as you were. Pick your preference and defend it to the death, or at least until someone comes up with a sensible argument for changing it.
What’s your preference?
I think I’ll just go with the -ed forms.
Actually I’m tempted to dig out my old schoolbooks and check which form they taught us – I learned English as a second language starting 1989.
Comment by Anke Wehner — December 13, 2011 @ 7:16 pm |
Always ‘t’ for me. ‘-ed’ is definitely American. They’re both Germanic (aren’t they?), so the ‘t’ ending makes sense. Same with smelt, felt etc. I suppose ‘-ed’ might be better aesthetically, if you’re into that stuff, and I reckon in time all the ‘t’ endings will be switcht to ‘-ed’. So I’ve been tellt. Which would be a shame.
Comment by Pablo — December 14, 2011 @ 10:53 am |
Well, I can tell that I haven’t traveled British circles. Solid western U.S.
“ed” usage for me.
Comment by Talk to me...I'm your Mother — December 14, 2011 @ 3:19 pm |
I tend to switch regularly between the two as they both look wrong most of the time. I just try to stick with one variant per piece of writing so as not to upset the readers.
Comment by Krissie — December 15, 2011 @ 1:09 pm |
You see? You see? We’re all over the place!
Comment by substuff — December 16, 2011 @ 10:24 am |
I don’t care: all that matters to me is which one the style guide tells me to use. It’s the past tense of ‘dream’ that I feel uncomfortable with. Whichever way I look at it, ‘dreamt’ does not leap happily from the printed page, yet no-one says “I dreamed all my clothes disappeared”.
Comment by Alistair Dabbs — December 20, 2011 @ 3:39 pm |
I was taught that -t is British and -ed American for those verbs, and as a young college student I made the mistake to mix both, as I was taught that either version was right. My, then, English teacher explained then that I shouldn’t mix both and use what ss appropriate for the audience. I live in England now and consider -ed to be incorrect for British English and try to avoid, when writing, mixing American and British.
Comment by Olga — February 5, 2012 @ 8:44 am |