This will probably be a short topic, but it's something that is driving me crazy. (Yeah, I know, it's a short drive!)

My question is regarding burned and burnt.

I would say that I burned the toast. But the results of that accident would be burnt toast! I checked in AHD, and it says they are alternate spellings of the same word. But where I come from, I disagree. What do you say about this?

Might it be that burned is spelt "burnt" in the UK, but spelled "burned" in the US?

Now, shall we toast this topic?

In UK English the "nt" ending is a common and perfectly accurate alternative for the past tense of verbs that would otherwise end in "ed".

There is usually no difference in meaning, but, as is so often the case, there are exceptions.

In the UK "learnt" and "learned" can both be used in the sense of "...He has learnt (learned) his homework...". They are not homonyms, although the final "e" is not sounded.

However, "learned" is aso an adjective meaning "well-read" or "having much knowledge", as in the expression, "...The learned physician gave freely of his time and knowledge...". In this use of the word the final "e" is sounded.

Richard English

owever, "learned" is aso an adjective meaning "well-read" or "having much
knowledge",
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It is used similarly in the USA. So, if the toast is overdone, why isn't it burn-ed?

It just dawned on me...(duh)...when I wrote my original question, does the fact that I am using burned as a verb and burnt as an adjective have something to do with my quandry?

Come to think of it, Morgan, I'd used the words in the same way, though I have no idea why. Sprachgefühl, perhaps.

From the Oxford Learners' Dictionary:

Several verbs have alternative regular and irregular past tense and past participle forms: Dream, dreamed/dreamt; spoil, spoiled/spoilt. In British English the irregular form (dreamt, spoilt etc) is preferred. The regular past tense is more often used when it describes an action that lasts some time: He learnt his lesson. She learned a lot about life from her mother. He leant against the post and it broke. He leaned out of the window and watched the parade. In US English there is a preference for the regular form of the past tense and the past participle forms. In both Britsh and US English the irregular form of the past participle is found in adjectival usuages: a spoilt shild, spilt milk, a misspelt word.