Spelling Past Tense with T
In Modern English we use an <-ed> suffix to mark the past tense of a verb. From around 1200, spelling past tense in many words was marked by changing the spelling to end with a <t>. Send and sent. Build and built. Feel and felt.
Are you shocked by our ancestors not knowing about the necessity of an <-ed> suffix? Is it irregular? Only compared to the common usage today. We have to remember we aren’t the first to speak this language. Just like our continuing what may seem like a quirky tradition passed on from grandparents, our language carries its heritage too. Remind your students of that as you use the graphic and activities.
Go Goes Going Went Gone
Ever wonder where “went” came from? It’s an interesting member of the Go word family. “Wending your way” is an old-fashioned way of saying, “going your way.” Went is the past tense form of go, but was also the past tense of wend. Check out the Etymonline.com entry for went.
Burned or Burnt?
This pattern gave us words that we still use and some less commonly used ones. We may say “burned” more readily than “burnt” or we might use “burned” as a verb and “burnt” as an adjective. He burned the toast. I don’t like burnt toast. Your choice may depend on where you grew up. Spilled is more common in the US and spilt in British English. “I lent her my jacket,” seems out of use, probably replaced by “loaned” or the phrase, “let her borrow.” Although lend, lending, lender are current, mostly for financial situations.
Over time, more of these will likely disappear. A student surprised me with his use “dreamed” rather than “dreamt” a few years ago. When I spell “dreamt” I catch myself thinking through this spelling *<dreampt>, which doesn’t look correct and isn’t. Why do I think I need the <p> in the spelling?
Feeling the Spelling Errors
Notice what your mouth does as you pronounce “dreamt”. Our lips close when we say /m/, but open to pronounce /t/. That lip opening gives the feeling of a slight /p/. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Often we or our students make similar spelling errors based on what we feel our mouth doing as we pronounce the phonemes (voiced sounds) in a word.
If the error is caused by what we are feeling as we articulate the word, then we can look at that together. Becoming aware of this can help us be more mindful of how much we lean on pronunciation for spelling.
What prompted today’s interest in final <t> spelling past tense–the Wordle game again. The Wordle solution smelt, which can mean the past tense of smell. Do any of you use smelt that way? Smelt is also the name for a small fish as well as a term for melting metal ore.