Feeling a Bit Irregular?
Dreamed or dreamt? Learned or learnt? English has many irregularities in our spelling systems, grammar and usage.
It’s not all bad, however.
Sometimes writing clients ask me about which version of the past tense they should use when it comes to verbs that can take the irregular form and can also take the ‘ed’ form. Dreamed or dreamt? In the English language roughly 3% of verbs are irregular. Our language has many derivations, including Latin and German, and therefore has gone through changes over the centuries. In addition, long ago there were different dialects of English spoken, which also affected spelling over time. The invention of the printing press by William Caxton in 1476 was a revolution for the English language. More foreign words entered the language and more spelling mistakes were made as well. As printing became more widespread so did irregular spelling. The reason for this was that printers were not editors. Printers simply printed whatever material they were given, so if there was a spelling mistake in the printing then thousands of people read that word as it was, copied it and so it entered our language as it was. Over time a uniform system of spelling emerged. Caxton listened to the pronunciation he heard on the streets of London and from doing this he decided on a more standardised spelling system. Caxton produced the first book ever printed in the English language.
The classical works of the Greek and Italian scholars needed special attention. No printer wanted to make mistakes with such revered works so as time went on more care was taken to have a spelling system that was consistent. In some verbs such as buy, think, and wring the replacing of ‘ed’ for ‘t’ as the past tense has its origins in Germanic forms. Other irregulars are derived from Old Saxon and Old English. In most cases, however, the use of ‘t’ arose in Middle English, in the time of Chaucer, when the ‘ed’ became ‘t.’ Some words that have a breathy consonant such as ‘sweep, creep, weep,’ dropped the ‘ed’ and took on the ‘t.’ This is partly why irregularities occur in our language. Some of our irregular verbs took on the past tense simply by changing a single vowel. Sing/sung, swim/swam, blow/blew, come/came are examples. American spelling tends to favour the ‘ed’ while British spelling tends to hang on to the irregular forms, although both are considered correct in the British system. Some scholars consider the irregular form the more correct way to write but irregulars have dropped out of the language over the centuries.
So, which is the correct form? Dreamed or dreamt? The answer? Both forms are correct. You can say, ‘I dreamed,’ or ‘I dreamt.’ See what sounds best in your sentence. If you are going for a gentle feel, I think it sounds better to say, ‘I dreamed of a blue stream, rippling like ribbons.’ If you are going for a more aggressive feel, then dreamt sounds better. ‘He dreamt of fire, furious monsters and the hell gates opening.’ But that’s just my personal preference.
When new verbs first make an appearance in English, particularly if they relate to new technology, they usually take on the ‘ed’ form. Googled’ and ‘emailed,’ and ‘texted’ are good examples. ‘I face-timed her.’ ‘I face-booked him.’ He air-dropped it to me.’ These phrases have entered our lives forever. Google and email are nouns but have taken on verb forms. Over time, more verbs have towed the line and changed form to take on the ‘ed’ ending.
Like people, words have their own personalities. Some follow the rules. Others are non-conformists. So, there’s nothing wrong in being a bit irregular.