^I think that's one that is context specific, though. I never thought of it before, but "I pleaded with him," sounds more correct to me than "I pled with him," while in the context of law, "He pled guilty," sounds more correct than "he pleaded guilty." What a strange and interesting language we have!
Pleaded guilty is used often now, which I think is weird (pled still seems preferred). Although, in other legal contexts, pleaded is used more often. So, even in the law, context matters more than it should.
Not in the UK so much, except in literature in the example tsq gave. One irregular verb that the US seems to have lost, at least in literature, is the past tense of to light. The number of times I've read lighted recently is, well, legion.
I read it all the time. One thing that happens occasionally in US English is the irregularisation of regular verbs. Dive is a good example. I see the pt 'dove' a lot, as though it's the same irregular group as strive. Of course the pp of dive/dove is not diven, so the analogy breaks down there.
^Interesting. "Lighted" is definitely not common in American English, though, except in a couple specific phrases. I'd say "He was in a lighted room," not "He was in a lit room," but I've never heard anyone say, "He lighted a fire." Dove is definitely considered the past tense of dive, though.
I usually pretend I learnt English from a drunken Ukrainian babushka. Which isn't too far from reality, actually.
I wrote an Honours paper on swa sceal man do as an underlying theme in Beowulf. It got me a first. The best thing about it is that English hasn't actually changed in 1500 years.
Anyone can do it really[Norman]. One syllable[Greek] is usually[Norman] Old English (OE or Anglo Saxon). Other words can be guessed[Norman] at.
That was a funny movie. The sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, stunk. I mean stank. Whatever. The past tense "learnt" is very British. Americans say "learned." But you knew that, right?