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Dreamed/dreamt?

JenJen
edited March 2016 in Writing
When did dreamt become dreamed? I learnt in school that 'she dreamt about' not 'she dreamed about' and to me dreamt sounds better than dreamed?
So if I use 'dreamt' is this wrong now? Can I still use it as I don't like the sound of 'dreamed'?

Comments

  • CarolCarol
    That's one for Baggy, I think.
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    Blame the Americans.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    This is no help, but when I say it, I pronounce it 'drempt'. Does anyone else add a verbal p?

  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    btw, I wouldn't dream of writing dreamed.
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    Isn't it a matter of tense?

    I dreamed
    I have dreamt

    ...now it looks wrong!
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    http://grammarist.com/usage/dreamed-dreamt/

    American site.
  • heatherheather
    I always think ed is active, t is passive. I burned the toast. The toast was burnt. I dreamed a dream. The dream I dreamt.
  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    OED says you can have either as both past and past participle. In common speech most people would use dreamt: 'Last night I dreamt I went back to Manderley again.'
    The p sound appears because it's actually hard to pronounce it without, PM.

    There's a case for other past tenses ending in t - swept, crept, leapt.
    Creep has no creeped; sweep has no sweeped; leap has leaped or leapt. It may be historical. Occasionally the US version of a word or phrase harks back to the 17th century usage/pronunciation, when the two countries began to develop in isolation. Some words evolved differently here than they did there, where outside influences were either non-existent (Puritan settlers who didn't mingle with other faiths, for instance) or were different (German and Dutch) from those in England, which is possibly at the root of this discrepancy.
  • mike olleymike olley
    I always write dreamt as it's the only occasion to end a word with -mt.
  • LizLiz
    i can only say, Gustav Klimt. I love his stuff.
  • LizyLizy
    edited March 2016
    This is no help, but when I say it, I pronounce it 'drempt'. Does anyone else add a verbal p?

    YEs, I do - to rhyme with 'unkempt' but I write 'dreamed'. But illogically I also write 'leapt' not 'leaped'.

  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    I can say Gustav Klimt too.
  • mike olleymike olley
    Last night I dreamt I Klimt my fingernails.
  • Mrs BearMrs Bear
    edited March 2016
    And thus looked more kempt.
  • LizLiz
    Gooh! A tongue-twister - Gustav klimt dreamt he was kempt.
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