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

Another way to study grammar--Animations (cartoons)!

Here is a link to ESL Blues, a website that offers a lot of lessons and quizzes (at different levels) for people studying English:

ESL Blues

 It also teaches grammar lessons by animations. An animation is a drawing or picture that seems to move. We watch animated tv shows called cartoons. We also see animation in computer games and in videos. Turning a positive statement into a question or into a negative statement requires changing the normal English word order, adding a helping verb or negative word, and/or changing the tense of the main verb. For example: He walked yesterday. Did he walk yesterday?He did not walk yesterday. 

Animation lets you watch the words in a sentence move around as these changes occur. Seeing words float into and out of a sentence is another way to help you remember the changes that occur when we make a positive statement into a negative statement or a question.

My suggestion: Click on the "ESL Blues" link above. After the page loads, look at the Alphabetical Index on the left side. Click on Animated Grammar Tutorials and then choose some of the links to watch. Or just use the links below to watch two of these "anigrams" (the ESL Blues website's name for these animated videos):

Past Tense: Negative Forms
Past Tense: Yes/No Questions 

PRACTICE SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT IN THE PRESENT TENSE

Click the links below to practice verbs in the simple present tense:

LINK: Subject-verb agreement

LINK: Simple present, 3rd person singular practice

LINK: More simple present tense exercises

Practice Past Tense and Time Clauses

 Click on the link below and scroll down to #1 to practice using past time clauses in sentences such as this:

1. Kate was skatedskatedwas skatingI don't know when she fell and broke her leg.    (You will click on the arrow in the box to show more choices, then click on verb form you think is correct) LINK: Practice past time clauses

Lessons and Exercises on Past Progressive/Continuous Tense

I am behind on posting what we've been doing in class, so I'm going to catch up with the most recent lessons and work my way backwards. Last week we studied the past progressive and simple past tenses and using them in time clauses. For instance, while is usually used with the past progressive tense: While I was watching television, while they were sleeping, etc. When, on the other hand, likes the simple past tense: The little boy was happy when his father came home.

My suggestion: Click on the links below for lessons and exercises on the past progressive/continuous tense and using it in time clauses:

LINK: Lesson on Uses and Forms of the Past Progressive Tense at myenglishpages.com 

LINK: Exercise on Forming the Past Progressive at myenglishpages.com

LINK: Lesson on Past Progressive Tense and Time Clauses at grammarbank.com

LINK: Exercise on Past Progressive Tense (scroll down to sentences 1-10)



Then click on these links to practice choosing between the simple past and past progressive tenses:

LINK: Simple Past or Past Progressive at ego4u.com

LINK: Simple Past or Past Progressive at Englishpage.com

LINK: Simple Past or Past Progressive at Perfect-English-Grammar.com

LINK: Simple Past or Past Progressive at a4esl.org

Subject-Verb Agreement

Click the link below to practice subject-verb agreement:

LINK: Subject-Verb Practice

LINK 2: Correct or Incorrect

LINK: What's the Correct Verb Form?

More Future Tense--Should I Use "Will" or "Going To"?

Why are there two different ways to form the simple future tense in English? What is the difference, and how do you know which to use? Englishpage.com has a very good explanation.

Use will to talk about a voluntary action (something you freely offer to do for someone else). Also use will to ask for help or to respond to a request for help, or to a complaint:

Joe: "This table is too heavy for me to carry by myself."
Tom: "OK, I will help you move it." Will you help me move my bed tomorrow?
Joe: "OK, I will. (this is a short answer using will)

Use be + going to + base form of verb to talk about something you plan or intend to do:

Tom: "After we move the furniture, I am going to finish my homework."

My Suggestion: Click on the link below and read the entire lesson on the simple future tense. Be sure to read the section titled No Future in Time Clauses (you can't use the future tense  when you're making a statement that includes a time clause introduced by a word like when, while, before, after, as soon as, etc.). Then try Verb Tense Exercises 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. Each exercise has a "hint" button at the bottom of the page. If you click it, you will get the next letter of the answer (for instance, if the answer is will travel the first hint will be the letter w). You lose one point every time you ask for a hint. When you finish the exercise, click the "check" button to check your answers.

LINK: Simple Future Tense Lesson and Exercises

Future Tense of Verbs

This week in class we have started to learn about the future tense. The English language has a few different ways to talk about the future tense--something that has not happened yet. If you missed class this week, or if you want to read a good explanation of the future tense, the link below will take you a page at Englishhints.com that has a good overview.

My Suggestion: Click on the link below and read about the two main ways to form the future tense--

1. will  + base form of verb--Example: I will write the report tomorrow.
2. be + going to + base form of verb--Example: I am going to write the report tomorrow. ***

Then try the practice exercise where it says Practice forming the future tense. After sentence #10, click on the blue link to check your answers.

How to Make the Future Tense of Verbs

***Remember that to + the base form of the verb is called the infinitive of the verb. So another way to think of the "going to" form of the future tense is:

be + going+ infinite form of verb--Example: I am going to write the report tomorrow.

Review of Future Tense

There are three ways to express future tense: present continuous (for an activity scheduled ahead of time), simple present using going to, and simple present using will. Review and practice each way, using the links below.

My suggestion: Clink on the links below to review (read the summary) and then practice (click on the exercises) each way of expressing future time. Most exercises are "click and drag," but if you have to type in text, do not put in extra spaces (do not put a space at the beginning of your answer, and use only one space between words), or the computer will read your answer as incorrect.

LINK: Present Continuous (or sometimes Simple Present) for Future Scheduled Activities) 

LINK: Simple Future with "Going to"

LINK: Simple Future with "Will"

LINK: "Going To" or "Will"? 

Do Yourself a Favor--Check Out These Lessons on Simple Present Vs. Present Progressive Tense

If you follow my suggestion below, you will get lots of instruction and practice in correctly using the simple present and present progressive tenses. Just beware of clicking on anything that says "Download" or anything listed under "Ad Choice" (which is in tiny print)--doing that will waste your time by taking you to advertisements.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and explore the explanations and exercises listed on the right.

LINK: Simple present and present progressive lessons and exercises at grammarbank.com

Listen and Write the Verb You Hear

We don't have time to do a lot of listening practice in class. However, the Listening Lab at the website learnamericanenglish.com has many listen-and-write exercises. You can pick an easier or a harder grammar level (blue is the easiest, and there are seven levels in all).

After you click on one of the links below, click on the arrow next to the teacher's picture. He will dictate (read something for you to write down) a sentence. You have to listen for the verb and then write it down. When you write down the words you hear, you are transcribing those words.

At the blue (easiest) level, you listen to a sentence and then fill in the verb you hear (the rest of the sentence is already typed for you). Click on one of the following links to practice listening and writing at the blue level:

LINK: Listening practice--present tense verbs


LINK: Listening practice--present continuous verbs


LINK: Listen for the correct helping verb: be or do?

Forming Questions--Read More Than One Explanation

Learning how to ask questions in English is confusing. Sometimes you change the word order of subject and verb:  
Bob is tall. (statement word order is subject + verb)  
Is Bob tall? (question word order is verb + subject).
When the verb is a form of "to be" in simple present tense (am, is, are) or simple past tense (was, were), subject and verb change places to make a question.

In other types of questions, you leave the word order the same and put a question word such as where or why, plus a helping verb such as do, does (present tense) or did (past tense) at the beginning:  
Bob walked to work yesterday. Why did Bob walk to work yesterday? Where did Bob walk today?  
For questions in the simple past tense, the main verb changes from past tense (walked) to the base form (walk), and the helping verb did takes on the job of showing past tense.

However, if the subject of the sentence is the same as the answer to the question, you don't need a helping verb and the main verb stays in the past tense:
Who walked to work yesterday? Bob. Bob walked to work yesterday.
What made that squeaking noise? A mouse. A mouse made that squeaking noise. 

A different person's way of explaining how to ask questions might make more sense to you. Try reading several explanations of how to form questions in English.

My suggestion: Click on the three links below to read different explanations of how to ask questions. (these lessons may include types of questions we have not studied yet in class). Each link has exercises you can try after you read the lesson. 

WH Questions            Asking Questions              An Easy Way to Form Questions

 

Third Person Singular Present Tense Verbs--That Pesky "S"

Last week we reviewed spelling rules for adding the final -s to 3rd person singular verbs in the present tense. English language learners have a lot of trouble with that final -s. Grammarbank.com has some good exercises on the 3rd person singular of simple present tense verbs. Again, beware of clicking on buttons which are actually links to downloads or advertisements, not grammar lessons or quizzes. Instead, scroll down to the numbered questions.

My suggestion: Click on the links below to practice using the correct person and number of present tense verbs. You'll also get a little practice with questions and negative statements in the present tense.

NOTE: If the sentence is a negative statement or question, type in the complete verb, including what is in parentheses, not just do or does, or your answer will be marked incorrect. Also, use a capital letter if the blank is at the beginning of the sentence. 

Example: ______ (Mark/like) cookies?
Correct answer: Does Mark like
Incorrect answers: Does, does, does Mark like, Do, do, Do Mark like

LINK: Practice simple present tense, 3rd person singular

LINK: More practice with simple present tense

Remember, simple present tense is used to give information (facts) or to talk about usual habits or activities. If you need to review the grammar of the simple present tense, click this link:

LINK: Review of simple present tense with frequency adverbs

Practice Short Answers in the Simple Present and Simple Past Tenses

Today in class we did a quick exercise on answering yes/no questions with the "short answer" form. If you want more quick practice--

My suggestion: Click on the first link below to go to a short answer practice page at Englishgrammarsecrets.com. When you type your answer in the box provided, remember not to begin with a space. Make sure you type only one space between words in your answer, or the computer may read your answer as wrong even if you get it right.  Click on the second link to practice matching questions with their correct short answers. For both of these exercises, you can either check your answers as you go or check them after you've finished all of the questions.

LINK: Short answer practice (present tense) at Englishgrammarsecrets.com

LINK: Drag the answers at right to the questions they match (various verb tenses) 

Click on the link below to practice short answers in the simple past tense:

 LINK: Short answers in the past tense

Practice Simple Negative Present Tense Verbs

Click the link below to practice choosing the correct negative verb to complete each sentence:

LINK: Practice simple present negative statements

Watch Tara the Cat Rescue Child from Dog Attack! Write Sentences!

Click on the link below and watch the news story: Tara the Cat Saves 4-Year-Old Boy

LINK: Tara the Cat Saves 4-Year-Old Boy

My suggestion: Write sentences about what happens in the video in past tense (active voice). Your sentences should have the subject-verb-direct object pattern. Then change the sentences you wrote into past tense, passive voice. For example:

The boy rode the tricycle. (active)

The tricycle was ridden by the boy. (passive)

Here are some nouns and verbs you might use in your sentences (in no special order)

NOUNS                    VERBS

cat                               run

dog                              chase

tricycle                        bite

car                               save

mother                        drag

camera                        film

attack                          attack

This is a screen capture (picture) of the video--click the link above to watch it.

Quiz on Past Passive

Click the link below and try this quiz from learningamericanenglishonline.com (see Favorite Links to go to the main website). You will practice the past tense, passive voice. After you try the quiz (I have printed copies for you), click the link at the bottom of the page and check your answers.

LINK: Green Level Quiz #2--Passive Voice, Past

When to Use the Passive Voice

Below is an explanation of when to use the passive voice in writing. It is adapted from a post at www.grammarly.com. If you want to read the original, click on the link at the end of this post. Otherwise, you can read my lightly edited version right now:

When to use the passive voice

There are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an idea, especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are three common uses of the passive voice: 

1 Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators

     My car was stolen yesterday.

If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The passive voice emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft. 

2 Scientific contexts

     The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.

Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the experiment they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice is used.

 3 When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of        the action is not as important:

     The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.

How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in presidents? Clearly the occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing to emphasize here. In each of the above contexts, the action itself—or the person or thing receiving the action—is the part that matters. That means the performer of the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent from the sentence altogether.

 Adapted from:

LINK: Writing in the Passive Voice at Grammarly.com