Re: irregularities

Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Elliott Lash wrote:
> >Actually, I've grouped these verbs into a "class" something like this:
> >
> >sleep > slept
> >leave > left
> >dream > dreamt
> >*learn > learnt (learned)
> >meet > met
> >keep > kept
> >read > read
> >
> >basically the requirement is that they be weak and have the vowel /i/ in
> >the present and /E/ in the past. I don't know if this is a valid category
> >for most linguists...but I certainly classify them like that.
>
> I say "learnt", but otherwise that's the forms I learnt(!) in school, and
> the one I normally use too.
>
> Now, what about "burnt"/"burned"? Both spellings are considered correct,
> right? For some reason, /b@(r)nd/ sounds wrong to my (non-native) ears - I
> say /b@(r)nt/. What about you natives?
To me, some of these irregular forms sound best as adjectival participles.
Thus I have contrasts like the following:

  I burned/*burnt the cake.
  The cake is burned/burnt.

Similarly, "dreamed" is fine only as a past tense verb ("I dreamed that I was
rich"), whereas "dreamt" works either as a past tense verb or as an adjectival
participle ("I dreamt that I was rich", "He has undreamt-of wealth").

Matt.

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