6. Regular and Irregular Verbs

There are two groups of verbs, termed regular or irregular, and are identified by how their simple past tense and past participle are formed. Regular verbs – in this group of verbs, the simple past tense and past participle end in –d or –ed. EXAMPLE: simple present tense – touch; kill; pass; stop; rub. simple past tense – touched; killed; passed; stopped; rubbed. past participle – touched; killed; passed; stopped; rubbed. Irregular verbs – a verb that does not follow the usual pattern of grammar. If a verb is irregular, the simple past tense and past participle do not end in –d or –ed. They vary as follow: Where all three forms of an irregular verb are the same. EXAMPLE: simple present tense – cost; hurt; put; read; shut. simple past tense – cost; hurt; put; read; shut. past participle – cost; hurt; put; read; shut Where only the simple past tense and past participle are the same. EXAMPLE: simple present tense – carry; die; fit; jump; try. simple past tense – carried; died; fitted; jumped; tried. past participle – carried; died; fitted; jumped; tried. Where all three forms are different. EXAMPLE: simple present tense – begin; choose; do; go; see simple past tense – began; chose; did; went; saw past participle – begun; chosen; done; gone; seen There are verbs which can be regular or irregular as follow: simple present tense – burn; dream; spell. simple past tense – burned/burnt; dreamed/dreamt; spelled/spelt. past participle – burned/burnt; dreamed/dreamt; spelled/spelt.