{"id":7240,"date":"2020-01-16T14:40:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=7240"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:45:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T13:45:20","slug":"when-irregular-verbs-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/when-irregular-verbs-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"When Irregular Verbs Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Image courtesy of Pixabay, CCO<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes you\u2019ll hear someone use a verb in the past tense<\/strong> and it just sounds wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was late as soon as I had woken up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woken doesn\u2019t sound or even look like a real word. That\u2019s because its source verb, wake, is an irregular verb<\/strong>. There are regular verbs<\/strong> and irregular verbs in English. Regular verbs are simple to transpose into the past tense. All you have to do is add \u201c-ed\u201d to the end of it. Pick \u2013 Picked, Cook \u2013 Cooked, Turn \u2013 Turned. If only all verbs were so easy!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, English has many verbs that don\u2019t shift into past tense in a regular manner. The past tense of cut is cut. The past tense of do is did. These are irregular verbs, and even native speakers can get them wrong \u2013 regularly.<\/p>\n

As you know, language evolves. Irregular verbs come to us from Old English<\/strong>, an outgrowth of Germanic language dating from around 500 to 1100 AD. Most of our irregular verbs use the Germanic form of conjugation<\/strong> known as ablaut<\/strong>. In this form of conjugation, the stem of the word changes to indicate the tense. There are some patterns if you can find them.\u00a0Often, just changing a vowel<\/strong> in the stem verb would make the difference. Sing<\/strong> becomes sung<\/strong>, for example, and hold<\/strong> becomes held<\/strong>. In some cases, a double vowel is changed to a single. Meet<\/strong> becomes me<\/strong>t, and shoot<\/strong> becomes shot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Curiously, research has shown that the more often a verb is used, the more likely it would be to remain irregular1<\/a><\/sup> https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2007\/10\/harvard-scientists-predict-the-future-of-the-past-tense\/<\/span>. Their usage is memorized at a young age, even from people learning English as a second language. They are properly used because they are heard so often. No one cares why have<\/strong> becomes had<\/strong> and eat<\/strong> becomes ate<\/strong>. That\u2019s just the way it is. But changing the tense on verbs which aren\u2019t used all that often, like display<\/strong>, is much easier to remember if we simply add \u201c-ed\u201d at the end: displayed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, the past participle<\/strong> of irregular verbs can alter further from the past tense. If lie<\/strong> in its past tense becomes lay<\/strong>, then the past participle becomes lain<\/strong>. \u201cI will lie down.\u201d \u201cI decided to lay down.\u201d \u201cI have lain here long enough.\u201d But, how often does anyone say \u201clain?\u201d It looks weird.<\/p>\n

Because we don\u2019t use the past tense or past participle of some verbs often enough, those words can seem odd or wrong. This has resulted in some regular verbs altering back to irregular verbs. The accepted past tense form of sneak<\/strong> is sneaked<\/strong>. But, increasingly, you\u2019ll hear people use the word snuck<\/strong>. It\u2019s wrong, for one thing, because more than one vowel has been changed. But, that hasn\u2019t prevented the word from creeping into our vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Here are some verbs which are regularly conjugated incorrectly:<\/p>\n

Dive<\/strong> is a regular verb, so its past tense is dived<\/strong>. This hasn\u2019t prevented the word from morphing into the irregular past tense verb as dove<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Drive<\/strong> is an irregular verb. Its past tense is drove<\/strong>, and the past participle is driven<\/strong>. For some reason, you can often hear people use drove as the past participle.<\/p>\n

Drink<\/strong> becomes drank<\/strong> in the past tense and drunk<\/strong> in the past participle. You\u2019d be amazed how often people get that wrong.<\/p>\n

Dream<\/strong> is a regular verb, so the past and past participle are dreamed<\/strong>. Dreamt is not acceptable in the US.<\/p>\n

Burn<\/strong>, likewise is conjugated as a regular verb. Use burned<\/strong>, not burnt.<\/p>\n

Learn<\/strong> becomes learned<\/strong>, not learnt.<\/p>\n

Smell<\/strong> becomes smelled<\/strong>, not smelt.<\/p>\n

Spell<\/strong> becomes spelled<\/strong>, not spelt.<\/p>\n

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Do you have trouble with irregular verbs? What real English words always look wrong to you? I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n