Irregular Verbs Grouped by Pattern

Recently I posted a link to a list of the 50 most common irregular verbs in the English language. Here is another list of the 50 irregular verbs used most often (I didn't bother to check whether the same 50 verbs were on both lists--maybe one of you will compare the lists and let me know!). It only lists the first two parts (base form and simple past form) of the 50 verbs, but it is in alphabetical order, and practice exercises follow the list:

LINK: Top 50 Irregular Verbs and Practice Exercises

Some people find it helpful to learn the principal parts of irregular verbs by the patterns they follow rather than by learning a list of the most common. The same website (www.englishhints.com) also has a page that groups irregular verbs by the patterns they follow. Best of all, it has advice on ways to study these lists, depending on whether you learn best by seeing, hearing, or moving (writing).

My Suggestion: Click on the link below to go to the 12 lists. Read the sections on How to Study Irregular Verbs and Using the Lists. Then make your own copies of the lists. If you like to have something handy to study when you're riding the bus, waiting for class to start, or taking a break, copy the lists onto 12 or more note cards that you can easily carry in a pocket, wallet, or purse. You can buy lined or unlined cards in various sizes, or you can make your own. Try some of the suggested ways of studying the principal parts such as writing them 10 times, or having someone quiz you, or reciting them over and over.

 LINK: 12 Lists to Help You Learn Common Irregular Verbs

Ways to Learn the Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs

Here is the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary definition for "principal parts": the forms of a verb from which all the other forms can be made. In English these are the infinitive (for example swim), the past tense (swam) and the past participle (swum). We also call the infinitive form (to swim) the base form of the verb.

What is the best way to learn the principal parts of irregular verbs? Some people like to study with lists on paper. Others like to make flashcards or have a friend quiz them. One of the best ways to learn the parts of irregular verbs is to write sentences using them. For example:

Manuel woke up and got out of bed. He put on clothes, went to the grocery store, and bought some milk. The milk cost $3.29. He brought the carton of milk home, put it in the refrigerator, and wrote down how much money he spent at the store. He sat at his desk and taught himself some new English vocabulary words. Later he took the milk out of the refrigerator, poured some on his cereal, and ate it for breakfast. He also drank coffee with a little milk in it. Then he put his dirty dishes in the sink, left the house, and drove to work. He got gasoline on the way to work and kept track of how much he spent in a little notebook he always left in the car.

All of the verbs in the above paragraph are simple past tense. They are all irregular verbs except for one. The one regular verb is the only verb NOT written in darker italic letters. Can you find the only verb in the paragraph that forms the past tense in the regular way (by adding -ed or -d to the base form)? Here is a hint: Pablo opened up really enormous doors.

Another way to learn the principal parts of irregular verbs is to play the Listen and Repeat videos at manythings.org. Listen to and repeat the three parts of each verb.

My suggestion: Click on one of the first two links to practice principal parts with Listen and Repeat videos. Click on the third link to take four quizzes (in the blue box area)--fill in the blank with the simple past form of the irregular verb shown at right.

LINK: Listen and Repeat Irregular Verbs 

LINK: Fill in the blank with the simple past of these irregular verbs

New Study Stack Flashcards--Irregular Verb Practice

Test your knowledge of the simple past form of 50 irregular verbs:

LINK: Past Form of 50 Irregular Verbs

Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

Sometimes it's important to use the same verb tense for your whole paragraph. For instance, if you write a paragraph about your morning routine, use simple present tense in each sentence of the paragraph. Here is an example of a paragraph written completely in the simple present tense (verbs are typed in red):

Every morning I awake at 7:00. First, I take a shower and dress. Then I eat breakfast and brush my teeth. After that I drive to work. I arrive by 9:00 a.m. and work for four hours. At 1:00 p.m., my work day is over. Sometime I run errands before I drive home. 

In some paragraphs, however, you have to change verb tenses now and then. If you are telling about your life, you will probably write about events in the past as well as information about your present life. Here is an example (present tense verbs are typed in red, but past tense verbs are in green):

My name is Pedro. I come from Mexico. I was born in Mexico City and lived there for 30 years. I came to the United States five years ago. I work part time at a grocery store and part time at a nursing home. In Mexico, I didn't complete high school. I want to return to school, and I plan to be a nurse.

Try this exercise from Englishmaven.org. Decide whether to use the present or the past tense of the verb to be. How do you decide? Look for time words in the sentence that show something happened in the past, such as yesterday, last night, when I was young, etc. These words or phrases are clues that you should use the past tense of to be. Use the present tense of to be to state facts and to refer to things that happen regularly (like habit or routine). Time words such as now and today also tell you to use the present tense.

My suggestion:  Click on the link below and try the exercise on the past and present tenses of the verb to be.

LINK: Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

You can also click on the following link for more information on using present versus past tense when writing.

LINK: Using Present or Past Tense in Narration

Quiz on Do, Does, or Did

This week we practiced asking questions with do, does (present tense), and did (past tense). Today's quiz at the Daily Page for ESL students gives you practice in using these words correctly, but in statements, not in questions.

My Suggestion: Try the quiz at this link--

LINK: Quiz for the Day: Do, Does, or Did

The Ball Exercise Was Highly Irregular!

We used at least four irregular verbs today in class during our silly "before and after" exercise with the two red balls. I didn't plan to have a lesson on irregular verbs, but by chance I gave directions to throw a ball, shake your head, bend your knees, and stand on one leg. Each of the verbs in bold type has an irregular past tense form: threw, shook, bent, stood. Of course, I also used regular verbs that form the past tense by adding -ed or just -d: jump-jumped, wave-waved, pat-patted (notice the final t of pat is doubled before adding -ed--do you know why?).

My Suggestions: A few weeks ago we studied rules for spelling changes when adding -ed to make the base form of regular verbs past tense. Click on the link to review a nice summary of these rules (but I wish I could remove the annoying advertisements).

 Spelling Rules for Adding -ed to Regular Verbs

Then click on the link below to go to "12 Lists to Help You Learn Common Irregular Verbs." These lists group irregular verbs that follow similar patterns when they change from present to past tense (for example, throw-threw, grow-grew, know-knew). Find each irregular verb we used in class today (those in bold type above) on one of the lists. Try to memorize all the verbs on at least one of the 12 lists this week. Can you memorize a list every week? You might as well memorize all three forms of the verbs, even though we have not studied the third part (past participle) yet.

12 Lists to Help You Learn Irregular Verbs

Simple Past Tense of Irregular Verbs

On Wednesday (9/23/15) in class we reviewed the material on possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns that I mentioned in my previous post. If you were not in class, read the online lesson and do the exercises. Here is the link to the lesson again (the link to the exercise is near the bottom of the page, under the green pronoun chart):
Lesson on Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

We also began our study of the past tense of irregular verbs. We say that most English verbs are regular. We mean that the regular (usual) way to form the simple past tense is to add -ed (or -d if the base verb already ends in e) to the base form of the verb. The base form of a verb is the verb part of the infinitive ("to + verb")--to walk, to look, to save, etc. So the difference between present and past is only the verb's ending (although sometimes we have to make spelling changes at the end of the word, as we have discussed in class):

walk        walked
hug          hugged
save         saved
study        studied

However, irregular verbs do not follow this pattern. You cannot make the past tense by adding -ed. Instead, there may be spelling changes inside the word, not just at the end. The simple past form of some irregular verbs looks like a completely different word. An example is the verb to go. The base form used in the present tense is go, but the past tense form is went.

Below is a link to a chart that lists the most common irregular verbs and their principal parts--base form, past tense form, and past participle. We haven't yet studied the verb tenses that use the past participle.

My suggestion: Start studying these 50 most used irregular verbs and their parts. Then you will recognize them as we learn about the verb tenses that use them.

The 50 most common Irregular Verbs--Principal Parts