What I learnt today....
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Regarding learnt; we tend to use the t ending on some verbs more in Britain...it's probably the Scandinavian influence. I'd guess that learned and learnt are used about equally, same as spelled and spelt; burned and burnt; leaped and leapt; spoiled and spoilt; spilled and spilt; dreamed and dreamt. They are equally correct.
I'm guessing Mr Webster standardised it over the other side of the Atlantic...at the same time that he put a z in standardised. The only problem is that he didn't standardise it enough; no American I know uses keeped instead of kept or sleeped instead of slept.
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However there are sometimes differences. You cannot say "my learnt friend" only "my learned friend" (and even pronounce it differently). Or the hangman hung the culprit?
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Once you have learnt or learned that in this context the words are verbs and that learned in the second context is an adjective you are well on you way to be a learned man.
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@unknownuser said:
learned in the second context is an adjective
More exactly a past participle. The same as when I say "I have learned" - although true that you use it as an adjective in the syntax and may have already become sort f "independent" from the original verb.
The hung/hanged comparison is still valid.
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So true Gai, but I meant the learned friend reference.
I always find it interesting that people who speak English as a second language often have a better understanding of the actual construction than the native speakers. -
Well, I had to studyEnglish and one of the things you do is to learn grammar, too. Native speakers often just "pick it up". Besides, I also learnt some Latin and although English is supposed to be a Germanic language, it is amazing how much it is similar to Latin (and I am not talking about the vocabulary which is obvious)
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@unknownuser said:
@utiler said:
I learnt today that the 'EDIT' button above right can same someone's a%$#@se!!
I learnt that Andrew can't spell 'save' and that by quoting Andrew's post when he decides to edit it it'll remain captured in my post.
Don't hate the playa....hate the game
Ok, I've also learnt that some moderators 'moderate' thoroughly.....
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I learnt today that nobody can tell me why Painters always wear white.....
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So they can do a test patch benchmark on their pants before they paint your house. ; - )
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Could be, Boo.....
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@utiler said:
I learnt today that nobody can tell me why Painters always wear white.....
So you can notice if you've gotten paint on yourself, incase you rub it on anything else
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@mrmikeesq said:
@utiler said:
I learnt today that nobody can tell me why Painters always wear white.....
So you can notice if you've gotten paint on yourself, incase you rub it on anything else
Most walls are white where I live...
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Tradition ? It's a uniform that makes you look like a painter instead of a slob. It looks less trashy to have light colored paint on white overalls than splotches on a blue t-shirt?
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The messiest surfaces to paint are ceilings. Nuff said....unless it's to make them more visible when they fall off their ladder and lay sprawled in the middle of your front lawn.
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@alan fraser said:
The messiest surfaces to paint are ceilings. Nuff said....unless it's to make them more visible when they fall off their ladder and lay sprawled in the middle of your front lawn.
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I am in love with Nigella.
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One should also note that McKeith is a fraud - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/feb/12/advertising.food
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