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English grammar and communications hints and tips
Is it learned or learnt?
These are from a set of words which has two forms of the past.
These include the following:
burned/burnt
learned/learnt
smelled/smelt
spelled/spelt
spilled/spilt
spoiled/spoilt
Usually, when forming the past tense of a verb, the -ed form is used, while the -t form is used mainly for adjectives, but not always.
Examples:
- What have you learned? [perfect tense]
- It was burnt toast. [adjective]
NB: Archaic English uses the exception (but this is pronounced differently) – ‘a learned man’.
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