It was just an eyesore to me when I tried to find a friend's email address and her nickname on msn was "I got a burnt on my arm."
Well, I'm sorry if you read my blog. I just have to correct you, even though my English is not considered the best in my FYP group. I have to state though, it wasn't you. It was the grammar which made me cringe.
1) Did you get a burn, 2) or did you get burnt?
I'm guessing 2) and like all the toughest decisions in the world, you can only choose 1 option. For the rest of us who are clueless (I really, really hope not), the word "burn", although more frequently used as a verb (A matchstick can burn), can also be a noun, which identify a particular type of people, things or places. In this case, you are talking about a burn, like it is a scar or mark on your arm.
Whereas for the word "burnt", it is a past tense of the verb "burn". And thus, while you can say "I got burnt on my arm" or "I burnt my arm", you absolutely cannot say you got a burnt in your arm. Unless someone scrawled the word "Burnt" on your arm.
(I'm sorry for being irritated with this. But having to write an article about the Referee's Dinner as if it went fabulous is a stab in my conscious. Wasn't a deep stab, but I estimate that it is as painful, metaphorically speaking of course, as the burnt in your arm.)
There, I've stated my piece. I feel so much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment