Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson
on a few verbs which have two different spellings for their past tenses-okay-and with the spelling
also comes a different pronunciation. You'll be glad to know there are not many
of these, and they're both correct. But it's just that often the one ending "ed",
the past tenses ending "ed" are used more in America; and the ones ending in "t", which
may seem a little bit unusual to you, are used more in the UK, and also I think they're
interchangeable; they... they're used in Canada, too. So, I think in all places, the UK as well,
and Canada, "ed" and "t" - the two different options are both used a bit of a mixture,
but both of them are right. So, you may find it confusing at first and
you may be thinking: "Oh, that word doesn't look right. Is it the wrong spelling?" or "That word didn't
sound right. I've not heard it said like that before",
but it could just be that someone is using the other option. Okay. So, let's have a look at what verbs are affected
by this. So, we have some examples here. There are not many, really; these are the
main ones: "Burn", "dream", "kneel", "lean", "leap", "learn", "smell", "spell", "spill",
and "spoil". Some of those verbs may not be familiar to
you, but I will explain the meaning as we go on, and we also have some example sentences
using the word, so in the context it will be easier for you to understand the meaning. Okay. Right. So, let's start with "burn". If you... If you get some fire or if you... If you cook something for too long in the
oven, you burn it; it goes black and it might be smoking, there may even be some flames,
a fire coming up. So, we've got here: "I have burned the dinner!"
or "I have burnt the dinner!" People in the UK would say: "burnt" usually,
but they might write it down, if they had to write it down, they might spell it with
the "ed" ending, but when they say it they usually say "burnt"; not "burned", but both
are correct. So, it can either be "burned" with a "d" sound
at the end or "burnt" with a "t" sound, but both are right. So: "I have burned the dinner!" I think I would say: "I have burnt the dinner",
"burnt the dinner" with the "t". But that's how they're spelt, and both are
correct. Okay, so if you spoil your dinner by cooking
it too long or you turn the heat up too much, and then you can't eat it because it's just
horrible, black, and dried up, and it would make you ill to eat it. So, that's "burn". Right. And then "dream". So, "dreaming" is something you do when you're
asleep. If you're sleeping, you experience things,
imaginary things, but they seem real at the time, but then when you wake up, you think:
"Oh, all of that didn't really happen; I was dreaming. That was a dream. It seemed so real, but it was just a dream." So, "to dream" is what you do when you're
asleep, and you have funny stories going on in your head. So, the example here is: "I dreamed of a castle
on a hill" or "I dreamt of a castle on a hill." So, a castle - a big building, like an old,
medieval, from hundreds of years old kind of building up on a hill. So, if you dream of that sort of thing, I
don't know what it means. People try to interpret dreams and say: "Oh,
I know what that means. If you dream of a castle on a hill, that means
you're going to be rich", or something like that. People try to say dreams have a meaning, but
I don't know if that's true, really. So: "I dreamed of a castle on a hill" or "I
dreamt of a castle on a hill." Both are correct, and those are the two spellings, there. Okay. Next one: "kneel". So, this is one of those words beginning with
a "k", but you don't pronounce the "k", so it's a silent "k". So you begin with the "n" sound: "kneel",
"kneel". And "kneeling" is what you do with your knees;
you kneel down on the floor. Okay. So, this example: "He kneeled down on the
floor to speak to the child." So, to get down to the child's level, he kneeled
on the floor. Or: "He knelt-knelt-on the floor. He knelt down to speak to the child." Okay. Next one: "lean", "to lean". If you lean, you're sort of going like that;
you're bending forward or maybe sideways. You can lead sideways. I could lean against the board. If it didn't have ink on it, I could lean
against it. It's sort of moving at an angle. So, "to lean". So: "She leaned across the table." So, she's... Someone is sitting at a table, and then you
lean across maybe to get something from the other side of the table - a pen or something;
to lean across. So: "She leaned across the table" or "She
leant", "leant". So, the vowel sound changes, here. Just like... Not there. "Burned", "burnt", same vowel sound. "Dreamed", "dreamt", "e", "eh". So, this one, the vowel sound changes: "e",
"eh". "Dreamed", "dreamt". So remember there's a vowel sound change sometimes,
as well as the "d" or "t" at the end. "Kneeled", "knelt", so "e", "eh"; "e", "eh". "Kneeled", "knelt". And then: "leaned", "leant"; "e", "eh", so
the vowel sound changes here as well, as well as the "d" or "t" at the end. "She leaned across" or "She leant across". Okay. Right, next one: "leap". "To leap" is to jump, and usually to jump
in quite a dramatic way; maybe a long way or high up into the air. So: "The horse leaped over the fence." So, if it's racing, the horse race, there
may be a jockey riding the horse; a rider on the horse, and they're in a race. They have to jump sometimes over a fence or
a hedge that's growing. So: "The horse leaped" or "The horse leapt",
so "e", "eh". "Leaped", "leapt". So, okay. And, also, although this ends in a "d", it
sounds like a "t" because some verbs, if they end in a "p"... If you've seen a very good lesson by Adam
where he shows the three ways that verbs end in "ed" are pronounced - look out for that
one; it's really useful. So, a verb ending "p", even when it's written
"ed", is pronounced "leapt" with a "t" sound. "Leaped", "leapt", but the vowel sound changes,
there. Okay? Next one: "learn". I'm sure you know this verb because it's part
of the name of this channel: "Learn English with Gill", so you're learning English all
the time; I'm sure it's a very familiar verb for you: "learning", "studying". So: "What have you learned today?" or "What
have you learnt today?" So, this time the vowel sound stays the same,
and it's just the "d" or the "t" at the end that changes; as well as the spelling, of
course. "What have you learned?", "What have you learnt
today?" Right. So, next one: "smell". So, "smell" is when you-[sniffs]-or you smell
something. "Oo, what does that smell of?" Or: "What does...? Oo, what does the pen smell of? Oo, chemicals. Ah, no." So that's smell, your sense of smell, if you
get a smell in your nose and you recognize it and you think: "Oo. Oo, lovely. Coffee. That's a nice smell", or then a horrible chemical
smell; different smells. So, what have we got here, then? "The gloves"... "Gloves" are what you put on your hands; especially
in the winter if it's cold, you put gloves on. "The gloves smelled of perfume", perfume - so
nice smell, hopefully. Or: "The gloves smelt of perfume." So, here the vowel sound stays the same; it's
just the "d" and the "t" that are different, as well as the spelling, because we have double
"l" here, but one "l", there. So: "The glove smelled of perfume" or "The
glove smelt of perfume." Okay. Right. So, next one: "spell", which should be another
familiar word for you because I'm sure you're always learning how to spell English words,
as well as words in your own language. It's important to be able to spell accurately;
correctly. So: "Have we spelled that word correctly?"
or "Have we spelt that word correctly?" So, it's very similar to "smell"; "spelled",
"spelt". Same vowel sound. Two l's; one "l"; "d", "t". "Spelled", "spelt". Okay. Right. Next one: "spill". You may not know this word. If you spill something, usually it sort of
falls on the floor, anything like that; it could be liquid, it could be something solid. So, in this case it's rice; little grains
of rice. So: "He spilled the rice on the floor." This was probably an accident because it's
not a good idea to spill rice on the floor; you probably don't want to cook it and eat
it after that. Or maybe it's already been cooked, and then
you really don't want to eat it after it's been on the floor. So: "He spilled" or "He spilt the rice on
the floor." So, "spilled", "spilt" - similar to "smelled",
"smelt"; "spelled", "spelt"; "spilled", "spilt". Same vowel sound. Double "l", one "l", then the "d" and the
"t". "Spilled", "spilt". Okay? And then finally: "spoil". You may not know this word. If you have something really nice, like something
that you like to wear, a nice suit or a dress, or something, and you like to keep it perfect,
but then if you... If you have to send something to the cleaners,
to the drycleaners sometimes because it's special and you can't put it in the washing
machine, you have to have it dry-cleaned, so drycleaners: "The cleaners have spoiled
my suit" or "The cleaners have spoilt my suit." So, you took your lovely suit-it was perfect-to
the dry cleaners, they did their cleaning on it with their... whatever chemicals they
use, and something went wrong. Maybe they used... the temperature was wrong
or they used the wrong mixture of chemicals, and they have what you call "ruined"... you
could say just... if, this is even more extreme: "They've spoiled my suit" - "They've ruined,
they've ruined it." That's even worse than "spoiled". So, they have done some damage to your suit;
maybe it's changed colour or something, or it's now in several different colours; it
looks terrible. So: "The cleaners have spoiled my suit", "The
cleaners have spoilt my suit." So, no change of the vowel, there; just one
"l" for both, but the "d" and the "t" are what change, so... Okay, so I hope that's been useful and helped
to reassure you that if you hear different versions of these verbs, don't worry; both
are correct. And I hope also maybe you've learnt some new
vocabulary from this lesson as well. So, if you'd like to test yourself on this
lesson, please go to the website: www.engvid.com and do the quiz there. And thanks for watching, and see you again soon. Bye for now.
