Conjugation-regular vs irregular

[Wiglaf]

Is there a good source for correct conjugation on the internet?
I assume that it would be different for different countries (US, UK, AU).
Sometimes it is hard to tell if you should use learned or learnt. Also it is apparently fling, flung, flung but if you used flang, I bet you could squeak by.
You can't always go by sound as you often hear it said in conflicting ways locally, there are regional differences, and how it is said and spelled are different. For example, walked is pronouned wawkt and you never say spelled but either spell'd or spelt.
Any suggestions?

 

[The Judge]

Can't help you with a source on the internet. I know it's very old fashioned, but a good dictionary should be able to give you what you need.

I have the OED, second edition (revised) published in 2005 which is constantly at hand when I am writing, and that gives brief details of conjugations for irregular verbs. For instance, the entry under learn starts 'verb (past and present participle learned or chiefly Brit learnt )'. As you can see, it also comments on regional variations, including Scottish and Irish where these occur. I think Australian English follows English English more often than not, perhaps because the split from the mother tongue came later, so archaisms which the first British settlers in the US took with them and kept had been lost to us by the time Australia was being colonised.

As for fling, I've never heard of anything but 'flung' for the past tense, not like spit, which has a past particple of spit, spat, and even spitted (if you're talking about something on a spit). Confusing, but isn't that one of the reasons we love English as a language, because sometimes it seems to take delight in flouting the rules!

J

 

[mygoditsraining]

This reminds me of a tangent Eddie Izzard skittered off down once;

"...the other hanglided (long pause, nervous laughter) Fine! You conjugate the word to hanglide! I hanglide, you hanglide, she hanglid, we hanglided, they hanglidedededed."

Returning to the topic, either refer to a dictionary when you get stuck (although online dictionaries suck - get a big meaty paper dictionary and a thesaurus and keep them next to the mousemat along with you supersized tea mug) or do your best and let your test readers/editor catch the errors. Fling, flung, filing, flange, whatever, as long as the story is compelling, you can file off the rough edges later.