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Pedants' corner

Burnt/Burned?

18 replies

yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 13:43

Ok, this has been bugging me, when you put your arm in a fire are you burnt or burned (apart from being very silly of course)?

When you let pasta boil dry and it turns black has it burnt to the pan or burned?

Thank you for any help you can give me!

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WendyWeber · 05/05/2008 13:47

Is burnt an adjective?

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WendyWeber · 05/05/2008 13:48

So when you did it you burned it (very sill ) and afterwards it was burnt. iyswim?

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Indith · 05/05/2008 13:48

Burn, burned, burnt

present tense, past tense, participle.

So I burned the pasta

I have burnt the pasta

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yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 13:52

So how about you have been..?

You have been burnt by the fire (you silly fool)

You have been burned by the fire

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yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 13:54

I know this is a silly question, in my defence I need to say that we were not taught participle etc in school. I have no real idea how they all go together

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Indith · 05/05/2008 14:03

the participle burnt, as it is the passive voice (as in something happening to you with the action being done by someone else)

For instance "the house was built" is passive, "the house has been built (by a builder)"

Take a look at this for explanations of tenses.

For most verbs the simple past and the participle are the same (work, worked, worked) but some are different and loads of people get confused (swim, swam, swum)

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TsarChasm · 05/05/2008 14:05

Great site here which helps

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Indith · 05/05/2008 14:05

Actually if in doubt, try thinking of examples using swim as it usually sounds wrong if it is wrong, you wouldn't say "Bob has swam the Atlantic"

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WendyWeber · 05/05/2008 14:30

You would think so, wouldn't you, Indith?

But have you noticed, in many written reports now rung seems to have taken over from rang - and sung from sang -

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yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 14:58

WW and Indith I think that is why I have become confused, words that I thought I understood have changed and I am not sure if it is me being a bit dim or the whole world becoming Americanised!

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yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 14:59

Thank you Tsar, I will have a look now!

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Indith · 05/05/2008 20:09

Americanisation does actually have a lot to do with it as American English has regularised most of our quirks and much of that has been passed over.

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yorkishbirdy · 05/05/2008 20:28

Even in my (massive) ignorance I do try very hard not to become Americanised, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult. I would like an american/english dictionary just to point out to my children that Hannah Montana and Drake and Josh are not right!

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WendyWeber · 06/05/2008 22:38

In the Mail (of course!) today:

"They are alleged to have drank lager at one euro (79p) a pint"

aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

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Tinker · 06/05/2008 22:45

Is it not like spelled and spelt? YOu can say either.

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edam · 06/05/2008 22:50

Depends on the sentence, Tinker.

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Tinker · 06/05/2008 22:52

I spelled spelt incorrectly.
I spelt spelled incorrectly.

[out of my depth emoticon]

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WendyWeber · 01/06/2008 16:57

OMG - I've found a "sung" for "sang" in the Guardian...

Managed by their friend Mike Tobin, they included Walters, Andy Davis and James Warren, who took care of guitar and vocals, a flautist who also sung, Michael "Mutter" Slater, and the drummer, Billy "Sparkle" Blake.

aaaargh