This is Lesson 19 of our Basic English Series.
Parts of Speech 3.2 – Verbs –
The Basic Forms of Verbs
(The principal parts of the verb)
In this lesson, we will cover and be able to understand the three basic forms of verb. This is also referred to as the principal parts of the verb. This will prepare us for our study of the six tenses of the verb.
Present Tense –
The present tense is used to express an action or condition that is occurring at the present time.
Examples:
– The girl sings very well.
– The students play baseball.
– Our teacher is sick.
Past Tense –
The past tense shows an action or condition that occurred in the past.
Examples:
– The girl sang very well.
– The students played baseball earlier today.
– Our teacher was sick.
Past Participle –
The past participle is used to form the perfect tenses of the verb. This usually comes along with have, has or had.
Examples:
– The girl has sung very well.
– The students have played baseball earlier today.
– Our teacher had been sick.
Regular and Irregular Groups of Verbs –
Regular and irregular verbs are categorized by the form of their past tense and their past participles. To understand this, we have our ELGR27 which is the first of the ELGRs that are used on verbs.
Regular Verbs
ELGR27: Regular verbs form their past tense and the past participle by adding ed or d to the form of the present tense. Sometimes the ed or d changes to t: build, built, built.
To understand this rule, let us see some examples of regular verbs:
Verb
announce
approach
barter
besiege
boil
calculate
chew
claim
dare
define
dissolve
estimate
Past Tense
announced
approached
bartered
besieged
boiled
calculated
chewed
claimed
dared
defined
dissolved
estimated
Past Participle
announced
approached
bartered
besieged
boiled
calculated
chewed
claimed
dared
defined
dissolved
estimated
The above examples should be enough to help you understand and distinguish when you add ed or just d to form the past tense and past participle. There are thousands of regular verbs and it is easy to form their past tense and past participle forms. Let us use some of them in a sentence.
Past Tense
The teams announced their withdrawal.
They bartered their merchandise.
He chewed 100 betel nuts.
He dared me.
He dissolved all the chemicals.
He arrived as estimated.
Past Participle
The teams had announced their withdrawal.
They had bartered their merchandise.
He has chewed 100 betel nuts.
He had dared me a few times.
He had just dissolved all the chemicals.
He arrived as we had estimated.
Irregular Verbs
How about irregular verbs? This is the group of verbs where many errors are frequently made between the use of the past tense and the past participle forms. It is highly important for you to become familiar with the principal parts of the irregular verbs that are in common use. Before we take a look at some examples of irregular verbs, let us first consider the ELGR related to this.
ELGR28: Be familiar and always use the proper forms in forming the past tense and the past participle of irregular verbs.
Here some are examples of irregular verbs along with their equivalent past tense and past participle forms.
Verb
arise
awake
be (am)
bear (to carry)
bear (to give birth to)
beat
become
begin
bend
bid
bind
bleed
blow
break
breed
bring
broadcast
build
burst
buy
catch
choose
climb
come
cut
dive
do
drag
draw
drink
drive
drown
eat
fall
flee
flow
fly
forbid
forget
forgive
forsake
freeze
get
give
go
grind
grow
shake
shine (light)
shoot
show
shrink
shut
sing
sink
sit
sleep
slide
sling
speak
speed
spin
split
spread
spring
wear
weave
weep
win
wind
withdraw
wring
write
Past Tense
arose
awaked, awoke
was
bore
bore
beat
became
began
bent
bid
bound
bled
blew
broke
bred
brought
broadcast
built
burst
bought
caught
chose
climbed
came
cut
dived
did
dragged
drew
drank
drove
drowned
ate
fell
fled
flowed
flew
forbade
forgot
forgave
forsook
froze
got
gave
went
ground
grew
shook
shone
shot
showed
shrank
shut
sang
sank
sat
slept
slid
slung
spoke
sped
spun
split
spread
sprang
wore
wove
wept
won
wound
withdrew
wrung
wrote
Past Participle
arisen
awoken
been
borne
born
beaten
become
begun
bent
bid
bound
bled
blown
broken
bred
brought
broadcast, broadcasted
built
burst
bought
caught
chosen
climbed
come
cut
dived
done
dragged
drawn
drunk
driven
drowned
eaten
fallen
fled
flowed
flown
forbidden
forgotten
forgiven
forsaken
frozen
got, gotten
given
gone
ground
grown
shaken
shone
shot
shown
shrunk
shut
sung
sunk
sat
slept
slid
slung
spoken
sped
spun
split
spread
sprung
worn
woven
wept
won
wound
withdrawn
wrung
written
Can you write sentences on your own using the above discussion and examples? Let us try a few.
Past Tense
The team went home after the game.
I did my homework.
We drove 100 miles already.
He showed me the message.
He withdrew all his money.
He sent me the letter he wrote.
Past Participle
The team had gone home after the game.
I have done my homework.
We had driven 100 miles already.
He has shown me the message.
He had withdrawn all his money.
He sent me the letter he had written.
It is now your turn to practice writing your own sentences using the examples of regular and irregular verbs.
In the next lesson, we will cover the six tenses of verbs.
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