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A life-long vegetarian, Xiomara blanched whenshe learned that the sauce she’d just eaten wasmade with chicken broth.Kindly explain. Thank You.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Both are OK, but learned is much more common, in my experience.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

English has two kinds of verbs: strong verbs and weak verbs. The strong verbs are irregular, and come from long ago when English had a lot more inflections.

But strong verbs are gradually becoming weak. Some verbs have completely lost their strong forms.

(for example help, holp, holpen is now help, helped, helped)

Learn and burn are two examples of strong verbs in the process of transitioning to weak.. "Learnt" and "burnt" are the old strong forms, but they are being replaced by the weak forms "learned" and "burned."

Other examples are dream (dreamt / dreamed) and spell (spelt, spelled). The weak forms are more common in American English. British English more commonly resists the change.

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