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

Participial Adjectives--Video

This video explains the difference between participial adjectives ending in -ed and those ending in -ing:

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 

Rachel's English Videos--Common American pronunciation reductions

In class today we talked about how Americans say gonna instead of going to, wanna instead of want to, whaddya instead of what do you, etc. These run-together pronunciations are called reductions because Americans reduce the sounds--make them smaller or run the words together--when we say them in everyday conversation.

 You can listen to many videos (and read along with the words you hear in the videos) at rachelsenglish.com. Spending time with these videos is one way to train your ear to quickly recognize what Americans say in conversation, which can seem very different from the written words. Listen to Rachel explain and pronounce these words or phrases, and practice saying them with her.

My suggestion: Click on the links below to practice some common American pronunciation reductions and get used to hearing them in conversation.

What did/whud' or What did you/wu-juh

I'm going to/I'm gonna/I'muna

Gonna (going to), ahright (all right), sorduv (sort of), kn (can) and others 

Here's a sample video:

Link to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves--Read and Listen

Below is a link to the "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" story that we watched in class (at youtube.com). When you click on the link, you can listen and read at the same time, because the words appear on the screen as the story is read. You will also see many other animated folk tales in English at this YouTube link.

LINK: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (animated)

Below is a picture from the video, but click at the link above to watch, read, and listen to the actual story.

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.

What Do You Need To Practice?

Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, but do a little English language practice every day.

My Suggestions:

1) Listen to a VOA news story or short fiction story while you read the printed text. Click on unfamiliar words to see the definition. Or try some of the new English learning course videos on this page.

LINK: Voice of America         

2) Test your knowledge of irregular verbs, how to use verb tenses, vocabulary, or other basic English skills at the website Englishlearner.com. Try any of the quizzes in the "Beginner Grammar Exercises and Tests" section near the top of the page:

LINK: Beginner Grammar Exercises and Tests at Englishlearner.com

3) Learn some new idioms and practice using them with a native English speaker or someone who is more advanced, to make sure you are using the idioms correctly. Check out the lists of idioms at Englishhints.com, or watch some "English in a Minute" videos at VOA:

LINK: List of Idioms at Englishhints.com

LINK: English in a Minute at VOA

Simple Past Tense--Links to Lessons and Exercises

This week we began studying the simple past tense. If you missed class, I have handouts and exercises for you, but below are some links to websites with good lessons on the simple past tense of verbs. There are also links to grammar exercises and quizzes on the simple past. You should study the past form of irregular verbs to prepare for the exercises. I gave you lists of irregular verbs in class, but you can also click on the tab for "Irregular Verbs" at the top of this blog and explore the posts that come up. They all have links to websites with more information about (or practice with) irregular verb forms.

My Suggestion: If you want more lessons on the simple past tense, try the links below.

If you want to practice listening and repeating verbs and sentences in the simple past tense, click on this link:

LINK: Practice saying past tense verbs in questions and answers

We can use the past tense with today to talk about what we did EARLIER in the day: "Today I went to school and then rode the bus home."

LINK: Practice saying what you did today

If you want exercises or quizzes, click on the link below. Remember--don't type extra spaces in your answer, or the computer will read it as the wrong answer, even if you typed the correct word.

LINK: Simple Past Tense Exercises

Here is an exercise that gives you two sentences and asks you to click on the sentence that is written in past tense (the other sentence is written in either present tense or in future tense with will--will eat, will go, etc.).

LINK: Choose the sentence in past tense

Read Along with a News Video

Manythings.org is a website that contains--well, many things for ESL students. It has news videos with subtitles in English. Subtitles means the text of the story appears on the screen while you watch and listen to the video. There are also news stories on video with no subtitles, but you can read a transcript of the story just below the video.

Reading while you listen at the same time is a great way to improve both your listening skills and your vocabulary. You can open the video in one window and open an online dictionary in a second window of your browser. Then you can pause the video while you look up the meaning of words you don't know.  You shouldn't look up too many words--first, try to guess the meaning of an unknown word from the context. After you read the entire article, then you can look up the word to see if your guess was correct.

My suggestion: Click on the first link below and choose a news story. Click on the name of the story to watch and listen to that story on video, with subtitles. Click on the second link to choose a story on video that has the text of the story below the video.

LINK: Manythings.org--Videos with Subtitles

LINK: Manythings.org--Videos with Transcripts

3 Keys to Improve Your Listening Comprehension, and More Listening Practice

The Anglo-Link channel on YouTube has a 20-minute video with helpful tips for improving your ability to listen to and understand native speakers of English. There are also videos in which you can listen to common short expressions (things Americans say) and practice writing them.

My suggestion: Find a time when you have at least 20 minutes to sit down and play the video with helpful listening tips. Have a pencil and paper ready to take notes, and click on the link below. You'll probably want to listen to it more than once (if you can't listen again right away, listen again in 2 to 3 days):

LINK: Tips for Improving Listening Comprehension

Then click below to try some quick listening and writing (transcription) exercises. Fifteen short sentences are read, two times each. After you hear a sentence the first time, pause the video and try to write down what you heard. Listen to the sentence a second time, pause the video again, and check what you wrote. When you start the video again after hearing the sentence the second time, the answer will appear on the video. Then continue with the next sentence.

LINK: Transcription Exercise (listen and write practice)

Click on the link below for a third video from this channel, and practice some common English expressions. Listen and repeat, or have pen and paper ready so you can try writing down the expressions you hear (35 sentences in total).

LINK: Practice Listening and Repeating Common Daily Expressions

Daily Dictation Practice Videos

A teacher who calls himself Coach Shane has a YouTube channel for daily dictation practice. Dictation means somebody says or reads something for you to try to write down. I must point out that in his first video he misuses the verb "dictate" a little bit. To dictate is to say or speak some words that you want someone else to write down. Coach Shane tells you to listen, then do your best to "dictate" the sentence, but he should be telling you to listen, then do your best to write down what you hear. The action of writing down what you hear is called "transcription," not dictation.

My suggestion: The nice thing about Coach Shane's videos is that you don't just listen to the teacher say things (although he does have very clear pronunciation). He plays recordings of different voices saying things--cartoons, newscasters reading headlines, actors' lines from movies or television shows, etc. In one video, you listen to a sentence several times and try to write down what you hear, without seeing the actual words. In the very next video, Coach Shane reveals the answer--what you should have written down. He then explains the changes that happen when the written sentence is spoken out loud, like vowel reductions, strong sounds that "win" over weak sounds in English, or what sounds Americans connect in casual conversation. He also explains the context of what you heard--maybe it was a famous line from an American movie, or a news headline about an important world event.

LINK: Click on this link to the first video-- 

Or click on this sample video:

Another Way to Study Questions and Negatives--Link to Older Post

Here's a unique way to learn how to make negative statements and questions--animations! Animations are cartoons, and last year I posted a link that can provide a unique review of what we did in class this week with negatives and questions.

My suggestion: Click on the link below to read the post and watch some of the animated grammar tutorials.

Animations--negative statements and questions in the past tense 

Practice Listening to Conversational English

Today in class we went to websites that allow you to listen to English sentences or news items. On one website, a speaker reads an English sentence and repeats it. Try to write down what you hear as the speaker repeats the sentence. When the written sentence appears on the video, check to see if you wrote the sentence correctly.
Listening Practice--Common Daily Expressions

Here is a link to a video where you can see and listen to 1000 common English phrases. You can practice saying the phrases yourself (pause the video if you need more time to practice saying a phrase).
Listening Practice--1000 Common English Phrases

My Suggestions: Once each day, visit the Daily Page for ESL Students at manythings.org. This page has links to a daily quiz, daily listening and pronunciation practices, and dictionaries in other languages.

Daily Page for ESL at manythings.org 

On the Daily Page, you will find a link for listening to daily Voice of America (VOA) newscast items. The text of each newscast is printed so that you can read along as you listen. You can click on any word and immediately see its definition. If you go to the top of the news page and click on Level One, the person reading the news speaks more slowly than in Level Two or Three. You can also click on the link below to go directly to the VOA website:

Voice of America--Listen to English newscasts and follow printed version

Another link on the Daily Page takes you to the "Listen and Repeat Machine." Click on the link below, then click on the "play" button. A voice reads English sentences several times. It pauses in between so that you can repeat the sentence yourself.  Click on the number button to change the number of times you hear the sentence from 0 to 4. Slide the control buttons to control the volume or to make the pauses in between readings longer, to give you more time to repeat the sentence yourself. 

Daily Pronunciation Practice 
 
You can also go directly to manythings.org for links to other listen and repeat or listen and read along videos. There are also links for listening to vocabulary, slang, and bilingual sentence pairs. Check it out by clicking the link below:

Interesting Listening Practice for ESL Students at manythings.org