leapt or leaped

[barrett1987]

leaped or leapt
kneeled or knelt
leaned or leant

etc. Whats the difference between these kind of phrases? Are the one ending in t just usa'avised and the other more english?

 

[Cat's Cradle]

dreamed or dreamt

My understanding is more-modern VS more archaic/poetical. The 't' is the archaic/ poetical ending. Just a thought! The experts will be along shortly (thank God!).

ps--agree with springs, though...you see both in use today!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Either, as far as I know.

 

[Abernovo]

Considering where you live, barrett, you're safe to use 't'*. It's good English, although perhaps not the Queen's English. As my name is not Elizabeth, however, I'm happy to use these sort of endings. They're certainly allowed in the language that I learnt.

*I think 't' might have origins in dialect, but nowt wrong with that.

 

[The Judge]

Both versions of each verb are recognised and acceptable past tense forms and past participles. I think I'm right in saying, though, that the "t" endings are less used in American English. As to when to use which one, that depends on the rhythm of the line and the vocabulary of the speaker/narrator.


EDIT: As to the "t" origins, this might be of interest, from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

-ed: past participle suffix of weak verbs, from Old English -ed, -ad, -od (leveled to -ed in Middle English)...

Originally fully pronounced, as still in beloved (which, with blessed, accursed, and a few others retains the full pronunciation through liturgical readings). In 16c.-18c. often written -t when so pronounced (usually after a consonant or short vowel), and still so where a long vowel in the stem is short in the past participle (as in crept, slept, etc.). In some older words both forms exist, with different shades of meaning, as in gilded/gilt, burned/burnt.

NB This dictionary, though, is American-based, hence its rather grudging last sentence, and its omission of eg leapt/dreamt, though it includes leaped/dreamed, though interestingly enough for "kneel" it adds

Past tense knelt is a modern formation (19c.) on analogy of feel/felt, etc.

 

[Kylara]

They are both correct. The 't' endings are older and the 'ed' is more modern and more in use in the US. Pretty much whichever you feel sounds better as they are both valid.

 

[barrett1987]

Tweak to the question. I take it you cant mix them and use both throughout the novel?

 

[The Judge]

I'd like to say yes, you can mix and match, since -- as I said above -- it would depend on who was talking/narrating, and on the sentence and how it read. But I recall Teresa pointing out in a similar thread that editors like consistency of spelling etc. Personally, I'd still use the version which best fitted the line/scene and hope any inconsistency was overlooked, at least at the commissioning stage.

 

[tinkerdan]

I would say that the usage of both is taught in the US or was and may have less favor now as to mixing I could see that in a couple of ways.

One who is learned will have learnt both ways of using the word.
Incidentally the spell checker on this forum just nuked learnt.
One who is learnt will have learned it both ways. [either way its a way of not repeating he same word in a single sentence.(sort of)]

Incidentally: you're likely to run across one person now and then who will state that he use verb ed as opposed to the verb ing and what the heck is a verb t.

And if he is taught we shall give him some whisky and see if we can loosen him up.

 

[The Judge]

One who is learned will have learnt both ways of using the word.
One who is learnt will have learned it both ways. [either way its a way of not repeating he same word in a single sentence.(sort of)]

Um... When used as an adjective, meaning erudite or characterised by scholarship, the spelling is "learned" and it's pronounced with the "ed" ending, ie "learn-ned" so the first version isn't showing both ways of using the variant spelling, since they are two distinct words. "Learnt" isn't used as an adjective in this way, and so the second version of the sentence isn't correct.

 

[tinkerdan]

You need some whisky.

Um... When used as an adjective, meaning erudite or characterised by scholarship, the spelling is "learned" and it's pronounced with the "ed" ending, ie "learn-ned" so the first version isn't showing both ways of using the variant spelling, since they are two distinct words. "Learnt" isn't used as an adjective in this way, and so the second version of the sentence isn't correct.

Oh forgot to mention: I guess not all instances of the word are inter-changeable.
(learned pronounced lernid (adjective))

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

But to use the two versions of the wordin the same sentence you could say something like;

"One who has learned has learnt both ways of using the word."

Yet if I read this sentence my thought would be why is it spelled both ways? Is the writer trying to distinguish the two words for some reason? I think consistency is the key to using these words. That and having some sort of rule about when to use which version of the two words.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[The Judge]

You need some whisky.

Nope, I don't.

Oh forgot to mention: I guess not all instances of the word are inter-changeable.

Yep, you did.

 

[ratsy]

I'm sure I've come across this a few times in my writing. The one that springs to mind is smelled and smelt. I tend to go with the smelt version and my word processor yells at me.

It smelt like rotten eggs.

and I like the

I was sure I'd dreamt it

but if either are good then I will keep that in mind for next time

 

[tinkerdan]

SMELT. : any of a family (Osmeridae) of small bony fishes
Was that Os or Oz.

"Oh look what you've done: I'm smelting."

Smelt definition, to fuse or melt (ore) in order to separate the metal contained.

My smelt smelt pretty bad after dropping in my smelting pot.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Of the choices given so far, I personally would use "knelt" and occasionally "dreamt", but "learned", "leaned", "leaped", and "smelled" (except the fish, and I hardly ever mention them). Unless I had been reading Shakespeare recently, in which case I would probably use all the ones ending in t.

I think one who has learned, or is learned, would find a better way of phrasing one's sentence so as to avoid having to distinguish what he has learnt.

 

[sknox]

Lends nuance to the sentence: "He smelt a rat."