First appearance of the theme of the state of being burnt by infernal fire after the Great Fall, both physically and metaphorically, which reoccurs throughout the rest of the book.
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burnt, burned.
Burnt is the usual form in the pa.pple (a thatched cottage was burnt down last week) and as adj. (burnt almond, a burnt offering). In the pa.t., burned is the dominant form (she burned her hands while preparing the barbecue), but burnt is also permissible in all English-speaking areas. Some writers detect a preference for one form or the other as between transitive and intransitive uses, but the evidence for such a distinction is unconvincing. However spelt, the word is normally pronounced /bə:nt/, but burned as pa.t. and ppl adj. may also be pronounced /bə:nd/.
- Fowler's Modern English Usage, Revised Third Edition
Two weeks ago he was in a classroom explaining to the bored youth of the country the distinction between drink and drink up, burned and burnt. The perfective, signifying an action carried through to its conclusion. How far away it all seems! I live, I have lived, I lived.引自第71页
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