Irregular past tense: review

Key Notes:

Definition:

Irregular verbs: Verbs that change completely or do not follow a predictable pattern when converted to the past tense.

  • Example: “Go” becomes “went,” not “goed.”

Types of Changes:

Vowel Changes: The vowel in the base form of the verb changes.

  • Example: sing → sang, begin → began.

No Change: Some verbs have the same form in both present and past.

  • Example: cut → cut, put → put.

Consonant Changes: Some verbs change consonants or follow a more complex pattern.

  • Example: teach → taught, bring → brought.

Common Irregular Verbs:

  1. Some common irregular past tense verbs include:
    • eat → ate, break → broke, see → saw, run → ran, give → gave.
  2. These verbs are important because they are frequently used in both written and spoken English.

Patterns to Recognize:

Groupings: Some irregular verbs follow similar patterns, which can help with memorization.

  • Example: drink → drank, sing → sang, ring → rang.
  • Example: bring → brought, think → thought, buy → bought.

Practice Strategies:

  • Memorization: Since there is no clear rule for forming the past tense of irregular verbs, students should practice and memorize common irregular forms.
  • Contextual Learning: Encourage students to learn irregular past tense verbs through context by using them in sentences and real-life examples.
  • Regular Review: Regularly review verb tables and engage students in quizzes or games to reinforce learning.

Common Mistakes:

  • Using the regular “-ed” form for irregular verbs (e.g., goed instead of went).
  • Confusing irregular verb forms (e.g., saying runned instead of ran).
  • Not recognizing verbs that don’t change (e.g., cut → cut).

Exercises:

Fill-in-the-Blank: Have students fill in sentences using the correct irregular past tense.

  • Example: “She ___ (go) to the market yesterday.” → “She went to the market yesterday.”

Let’s practice!🖊️