Isn't this English a mistake?

”Around Christmastime, a young mother and her son are shopping in our large toy superstore. They both approach me, and the boy politely and precociously speaks to me, without needing to be prompted by his mother.

Boy: “Excuse me, ma’am? Would you be so kind as to help me find the items on this list I haven’t been able to cross off yet?”

Me: *Looking at the list* “I think I can manage most of those! That’s a very long list! Is this a gift list for Christmas?”

Boy: “My friend at school had his house burn down, and they lost everything."

In the part "had his house burn down", isn't this English a mistake? It should be "burned down" or "burnt down", right? Thank you.

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froggtongue · M

You can see it's a little bit of a debate as to if that's the correct way to say it. It's obviously understood, so there's a good mark for it being acceptable.

corta24 · 41-45, M

@froggtongue Thank you.

froggtongue · M

@corta24 upon further reflection, i'd say while you can accept someone else using that phrase, in order to avoid confusion, use the other alternatives which you provided earlier. One more alternative is to say “My friend at school's house [had] burned down, and they lost everything." Noticing the addition of "had" right before the verb. I'm not sure what difference it makes, but it's another common construction you might hear.

corta24 · 41-45, M

@froggtongue Thank you very much!