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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Past tense 'to learn' ?
Helo there,
I was always taught that the 'word' 'LEARNT' used as the past tense of 'TO LEARN' is incorrect/bad English & even told that the word does NOT exist! & that 'LEARNED' is the proper form of the past tense. I have just lost a bet with my family whereby I said ''I'll eat the dictionary if you can find LEARNT in the Oxford Dict.'' I am flabberghasted that it IS there as an alternative to 'Learned'
Could you tell please me as to WHEN this alternative was introduced as acceptable English into the dictionary?
Thanks in advance
R.J.Gibney
I was always taught that the 'word' 'LEARNT' used as the past tense of 'TO LEARN' is incorrect/bad English & even told that the word does NOT exist! & that 'LEARNED' is the proper form of the past tense. I have just lost a bet with my family whereby I said ''I'll eat the dictionary if you can find LEARNT in the Oxford Dict.'' I am flabberghasted that it IS there as an alternative to 'Learned'
Could you tell please me as to WHEN this alternative was introduced as acceptable English into the dictionary?
Thanks in advance
R.J.Gibney
Top answer
Hi, I was never taught that 'learnt' was wrong. It's in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1964 Edition. But I imagine the origin of the -t suffix goes way, way back, maybe even right to Old English.
- Hi, I was never taught that 'learnt' was wrong.
- It's in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1964 Edition.
- But I imagine the origin of the -t suffix goes way, way back, maybe even right to Old English.
- Best wishes, Clive
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5 Answers
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Hi,
I was never taught that 'learnt' was wrong.
It's in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1964 Edition. But I imagine the origin of the -t suffix goes way, way back, maybe even right to Old English.
Best wishes, Clive
I was never taught that 'learnt' was wrong.
It's in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1964 Edition. But I imagine the origin of the -t suffix goes way, way back, maybe even right to Old English.
Best wishes, Clive
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AnonymousCould you tell please me as to WHEN this alternative was introduced as acceptable English into the dictionary?Probably centuries ago.
CJ
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My research reveals that many present-day British spellings can be traced back to Samuel Johnson's DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE published in 1755. IF I am correct, he simply defines "learn" as "to gain knowledge," without giving the past form. I found at least one quotation ATTRIBUTED to him in which he (or the editor) spells it as "learnt."
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