"Burnt" or "Burned"?

[Henneth Annun]

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?  

[Imaginary Tears]

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

[abarrach]

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.  

[Radio Chaos]

I believe "The toast is burnt" is correct.  

[Zealot of Insanity]

I believe it is either "The toast is burnt." or "The toast was burned."  

[jillian truant]

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.  

[LexiHulan]

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.

 

[s0prano42_x3]

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.  

[Garundy]

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