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"Burnt" or "Burned"?

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Henneth Annun

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:15 pm


Would you say:

"The toast was burnt"

or

"The toast was burned"

Are both correct? Is one used for past tense, please help me. My English teacher is very strict....

Oh, and would it be unnecessary to say "a messy tangle", since a tangle is often messy anyway?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:19 pm


I had burnt toast.
The toast was burned.
Burnt is an adjective, burned is a past-tense verb.

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abarrach

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:46 pm


XWraith_LordX

Oh, and would it be unnecessary to say "a messy tangle", since a tangle is often messy anyway?


Redundancy can be used effectively for emphasis, but only when used sparingly. So, it's not wrong, but it's unnecessary if you don't care to emphasize the messiness of the tangle.
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:21 pm


I believe "The toast is burnt" is correct.

Radio Chaos


Zealot of Insanity

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:14 pm


I believe it is either "The toast is burnt." or "The toast was burned."
PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:29 am


Last I was told by my English major mother, both are acceptable. However, I believe burnt is slightly archaic and is used more often in British English than the American version.

jillian truant


LexiHulan

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:54 am


I would go with this such like...
The toast is burnt
The toast was burned.
Was is the past tense while Is is the present tense. Depends on which tense you're using.
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:02 pm


XWraith_LordX
Would you say:

"The toast was burnt"

or

"The toast was burned"

Are both correct? Is one used for past tense, please help me. My English teacher is very strict....

Oh, and would it be unnecessary to say "a messy tangle", since a tangle is often messy anyway?


"The toast was burnt." Here the word "burnt" is being used as an adjective, describing the toast.

"The toast was burned." Now the word "burned" is being used as a verb in the preterit/past tense (thank you, Spanish class!) and it's saying that the toast was burned, describing an event where the toast became burnt.

Both are correct! It just depends on which one you choose and which one sounds better in context.

Also, you could say "messy tangle" if you wanted to emphasize how messy it really was, however, my English teacher might not like that because he'd be like "It sounds like you're trying too hard to convince us that it was messy, just get to the point." I like it, but I guess it depends again on the context.

s0prano42_x3


Garundy

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2007 2:58 pm


I'd say both are correct. It really depends..
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