learned v.s. learnt

[abcd1234]

which is correct? learned or learnt?

PLease can you give me good examples for these two.

thanks again teacher.

[rewboss]

They are both correct; however, "learnt" is a little old-fashioned. In American English, "learnt" is not used much at all, and some people even consider it wrong.

It's probably better to write "learned", but you should recognise "learnt" as a correct alternative.

Originally Posted by abcd1234

which is correct? learned or learnt?
PLease can you give me good examples for these two.
thanks again teacher.

Both forms are correct and as far as I am concerned, I always use "learnt " as the past tense of "learn". I was taught that this form is more English than the other one :"learned" and in an examination the form "learnt" is always taken into consideration as the right form rather than "learned"

[Ouisch]

If you were to use "learnt" in a sentence on a school exam in the U.S., it would be marked incorrect. "Learnt" is strictly British English; U.S. students are taught to use "learned."

[abcd1234]

now i know that "learned" is U.S. english
and "learnt" is British english.

Thank you very much guys.

[abcd1234]

Is this also applied the same with "meaned" and "meant".

'meaned' is the American way?
and
'meant' is the British way?

thanks again.

Originally Posted by Ouisch

If you were to use "learnt" in a sentence on a school exam in the U.S., it would be marked incorrect. "Learnt" is strictly British English; U.S. students are taught to use "learned."

Yes, you are right but I have always studied British English and in examinations I was supposed to mark the British answers, never American ones.
A simple example :

Choose the right form of the word :
a} colour
b} color

The right answer should be {a}


Thank you very much

[abcd1234]

so "colour" is the british way
and "color" is the american way

how about the australian way and the new zealand way?

any idea?

[Tdol]

They generally follow British Spelling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_differences

[rewboss]

Originally Posted by sheena55ro

Yes, you are right but I have always studied British English and in examinations I was supposed to mark the British answers, never American ones.

I think that's a little unfair; and it's different from country to country.

In Germany, for example, if you used an American spelling in a mainly British English text, it would be underlined and marked "AE" (for "American English") in the margin, but you would not lose any points for it. And if you used a British spelling in a mainly American English text, it would be marked "BrE", but again, you would not lose points.

"Meant" is the correct past tense of "mean" in both the US and Britain. However, the past tense of "spell" is "spelt" in Britain and "spelled" in the States. Again, it's probably better to use "spelled" as it is also acceptable in Britain.

From what I understand, American and British spellings are both acceptable in Canada, although you would need to be consistent.

In Australia, the decision whether to use American or British spelling can be a political statement. British spellings are usually used by more conservative, traditionalist writers, American spelling by more progressive or left-wing writers. This can be confusing: many people write "labour" the British way, but generally May 1st is called "Labor Day" (American spelling). Wikipedia manages to spell it "Labor Day" when referring to the US holiday but (strictly incorrectly) "Labour Day" when referring to the Australian version on the same page; but an official Australian government website uses the American spelling. The mainstream opposition party in Australia is officially The Australian Labor Party, but on at least one page they use the British spelling to talk about "labour" as a synonym for "work".

It confuses me, too.