Why do British people use the T form of certain verbs?

[Saffy]

The ones I notice a lot are 'shone' vs. 'shined':

The light shone through the night.

The light shined through the night.

The latter seems really wrong to me.

Also, 'lit' vs. 'lighted'.

He lit the candle.

He lighted the candle.

Again - the latter sounds odd to me! (New Zealander).

[Tilt Fairy]

The ones I notice a lot are 'shone' vs. 'shined':

The light shone through the night.

The light shined through the night.

The latter seems really wrong to me.

Also, 'lit' vs. 'lighted'.

He lit the candle.

He lighted the candle.

Again - the latter sounds odd to me! (New Zealander).

You're right. The latter two of each sound really odd to me too

[PastryGoddess]

The ones I notice a lot are 'shone' vs. 'shined':

The light shone through the night.

The light shined through the night.

The latter seems really wrong to me.

Also, 'lit' vs. 'lighted'.

He lit the candle.

He lighted the candle.

Again - the latter sounds odd to me! (New Zealander).

I'm in the US and "shone" sounds weird to me, but I would use "lit" rather than "lighted"

[jaxsue]

The ones I notice a lot are 'shone' vs. 'shined':

The light shone through the night.

The light shined through the night.

The latter seems really wrong to me.

Also, 'lit' vs. 'lighted'.

He lit the candle.

He lighted the candle.

Again - the latter sounds odd to me! (New Zealander).

I'm in the US and "shone" sounds weird to me, but I would use "lit" rather than "lighted"

I'd use "shone," but my parents are English-Canadian so there is a lot of UK influence in our dialect. I'd also use "lit," though. "Lighted" sounds strange.

[wendelenn]

My brain melts a little with the "t" endings for past tense or "s" where "z" should be in certain words (per my American sensibilities), but I get it. It's funny to me when one of these slips into an American's writing. We do use "slept" instead of "sleeped," but "dreamed" is more proper than "dreamt."

 I've never heard anyone here (UK) say dreamed. It's always dreamt. Dreamed sounds really odd to me.

Have you heard it with music?

"I dreamed last night, I got on a boat to heaven . . ."

Susan Boyle didn't sing "I Dreamt a Dream"   

[PastryGoddess]

My brain melts a little with the "t" endings for past tense or "s" where "z" should be in certain words (per my American sensibilities), but I get it. It's funny to me when one of these slips into an American's writing. We do use "slept" instead of "sleeped," but "dreamed" is more proper than "dreamt."

 I've never heard anyone here (UK) say dreamed. It's always dreamt. Dreamed sounds really odd to me.

Have you heard it with music?

"I dreamed last night, I got on a boat to heaven . . ."

Susan Boyle didn't sing "I Dreamt a Dream"   

Maybe an American wrote it

[Tilt Fairy]

I dreamt a dream doesn't rhyme for the purposes of the song - even if dreamt makes more sense to me than dreamed!

[nolechica]

Yes, Pastrygoddess, that's how I understand things too. 

Another thing they did was drop the second 'L' in words like 'traveller'.

This is all fascinating stuff.

Also in cancelled and jewellery. 

[RingTailedLemur]

Yes, Pastrygoddess, that's how I understand things too. 

Another thing they did was drop the second 'L' in words like 'traveller'.

This is all fascinating stuff.

Also in cancelled and jewellery.

Counsellor, too.

[Thipu1]

It's all very fungible. 

In the USA we say 'slept' even though we should probably say 'sleeped'.  The latter just sounds wrong.  'Leaped' and 'leapt' are used about equally even though the meanings are a bit different.  Around here, we will say, 'She leaped into the argument' but 'He leapt for joy'.  It's a subtle distinction. 

[jmarvellous]

It's all very fungible. 

In the USA we say 'slept' even though we should probably say 'sleeped'.  The latter just sounds wrong.  'Leaped' and 'leapt' are used about equally even though the meanings are a bit different.  Around here, we will say, 'She leaped into the argument' but 'He leapt for joy'.  It's a subtle distinction.

I don't think they have a different meaning at all -- I'd use "leaped" or "leapt" for both purposes in casual conversation.

[PastryGoddess]

It's all very fungible. 

In the USA we say 'slept' even though we should probably say 'sleeped'.  The latter just sounds wrong.  'Leaped' and 'leapt' are used about equally even though the meanings are a bit different.  Around here, we will say, 'She leaped into the argument' but 'He leapt for joy'.  It's a subtle distinction. 

Fungible!  I love that word and try to use it as often as possible

Back on topic then...

[Clarissa]

This thread is so interesting! I'm British and have never used words like "learnt" or "dreamt" in written work. Maybe when talking. My partner will say things like "I learnt him" meaning he taught him. However he knows that it's not correct, and wouldn't write it. He's Scottish.