Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#7): Past Forms, by

Dennis Oliver

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#7):

Past Forms
English verbs have five basic forms: the base form, the - S form,
the - ing form, the past form, and the past participle form.
There are two types of past forms in English: those for regular
verbs and those for irregular verbs.

Regular Verbs
All regular verbs have similar endings: - ed, - d , or - ied.
These endings are added to the base form.
Examples:
brush / brushed
cook / cooked
discuss / discussed
fix / fixed
jump / jumped
look / looked
mail / mailed
need / needed
open / opened
pitch / pitched
risk / risked
smell / smelled
trust / trusted
view / viewed
wink / winked

bake / baked
care / cared
dine / dined
file / filed
giggle / giggled
hope / hoped
like / liked
paste / pasted
stare / stared
smile / smiled
type / typed
use / used
whine / whined

bully / bullied
bury / buried
cry / cried
dally / dallied
dry / dried
ferry / ferried
fry / fried
marry / married
party / partied
pry / pried
query / queried
tally / tallied
tarry / tarried
try / tried
worry / worried

___________________________________________________

Irregular Verbs
The irregular verbs do not make the past form by adding- ed,
- d , or - ied. Some have the same base and past form, some
change vowel sounds, and a few have completely different base
and past forms.
Examples (there are many more in each category):
beat / beat
cost / cost
cut / cut
hit / hit
hurt / hurt
let / let
quit / quit
set / set
shed / shed
slit / slit

arise / arose
break / broke
buy / bought
come / came
draw / drew
fall / fell
find / found
get / got
hide / hid
meet / met
run / ran
see / saw
take / took
write / wrote

be / was, were
do / did
go / went
have / had

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#8): Spelling Regular

Past Forms, by Dennis Oliver

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#8):

Spelling Regular Past Forms
English verbs have five basic forms: the base form, the - S form,
the - ing form, the past form, and the past participle form. There
are two types of past forms--for regular and irregular verbs.
The past form of regular verbs ends in - d, - ed, or - ied. Here are
some guidelines for spelling.
1.

Add -d to the base form.

This happens when the base form ends in a vowel
and one or more consonants plus e:
ached, baked, blamed, breathed, cared, cached,
chased. diced, dozed, dyed, edged, fiddled, filed,
glared, grated, hated, hoped, joked, lived,
mired, noted, paced, pasted, raced, raised,
sliced, spared, surprised, tasted, typed, whined.
This also happens when the base form ends in ue,
oe, or ie:
glued, rued, sued, hoed, toed, died, lied, tied

2.

Change -y to -i and add -ed.

This happens when a verb ends in a consonant
and y:
apply / applied; bully / bullied; bury / buried;
carry / carried; copy / copied; cry / cried;
dry / dried; ferry / ferried; fry / fried;
hurry / hurried; marry / married;
parry / parried; pry / pried; query / queried;
rely / relied; tarry / tarried; tidy / tidied;
try / tried; vary / varied; worry / worried
This does not happen when a verb ends in a vowel
and y:

annoy / annoyed; bray / brayed; destroy / destroyed;

employ / employed; enjoy / enjoyed;
fray / frayed; gray / grayed; obey / obeyed;
play / played; pray / prayed; prey / preyed;
stay / stayed; stray / strayed; sway / swayed;
toy / toyed
Compare fray / frayed with fry / fried;
pray / prayed , prey / preyed and parry / parried
with pry / pried.
3.

Double the final consonant and add -ed

if there is a single stressed vowel before
the final consonant.
ban / banned; can / canned; hem / hemmed;
mop / mopped; pin / pinned; sip / sipped;
trap / trapped; wad / wadded; whip / whipped;
compl / complled; confr / confrred;
prefr / prefrred; refr / refrred
Note:
Compare cane / caned and can / canned;
mope / moped and mop / mopped;
pine / pined and pin / pinned;
wade / waded and wad / wadded.

Also compare ffer / ffered and confr / confrred;

trvel / trveled and compl / complled.
4.

Add -ed to the base forms of all other

regular verbs.

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#9): Irregular Past

Forms, by Dennis Oliver

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#9):

Irregular Past Forms
English verbs have five basic forms: the base form, the - S form,
the - ing form, the past form, and the past participle form. There
are two types of past forms--for regular and irregular verbs.
The past forms of irregular verbs are challenging because there
are no easy rules for forming them. Some are the same as the base
form, some change their vowels and/or endings, and a few are
completely different from the base forms.
Here is a list of more than 140 common irregular verbs:
_________________________________________________

arise / arose
awake / awoke
be / was, were
bear / bore
beat / beat
become / became
begin / began
bend / bent
bet / bet
bid / bade, bid*
bind / bound
bite / bit
bleed / bled
blow / blew
break / broke
breed / bred
bring / brought
build / built
burn / burned, burnt*
burst / burst
buy / bought
cast / cast
catch / caught

make / made
mean / meant
meet / met
mistake / mistook
partake / partook
pay / paid
put / put
read / read*
rend / rent
rid / rid
ride / rode
rise / rose
run / ran
say / said
see / saw
seek / sought
sell / sold
send / sent
set / set
shake / shook
shed / shed
shine / shone

choose / chose
come / came
cost / cost
creep / crept
cut / cut

deal / dealt
dig / dug
dive / dived, dove*
do / did
draw / drew
dream / dreamed, dreamt*
drink / drank
drive / drove
dwell / dwelt
eat / ate
fall / fell
feed / fed
fight / fought
find / found
flee / fled
fly / flew
forbid / forbade, forbad
forget / forgot
forgive / forgave
forsake / forsook
freeze / froze
get / got
give / gave
go / went
grind / ground
grow / grew
hang / hanged, hung*
have / had
hear / heard
hide / hid
hit / hit
hold / held
hurt / hurt
keep / kept
kneel / knelt
knit / knitted, knit*

shoot / shot
shrink / shrank
shut / shut
sing / sang
sink / sank
sit / sat
slay / slew
sleep / slept
slide / slid
sling / slung
slit / slit
speak / spoke
speed / sped, speeded*
spin / spun
spit / spat
split / split
spring / sprang
stand / stood
steal / stole
stick / stuck
sting / stung
stink / stank
stride / strode
strive / strove
swear / swore
sweep / swept
swim / swam
swing / swung
take / took
teach / taught
tear / tore
tell / told
think / thought
throw / threw
tread / trod
understand / understood
upset / upset
wake / woke
wear / wore
weave / wove
weep / wept
win / won
wind / wound
wring / wrung
write / wrote

know / knew
lay / laid
lead / led
lean / leaned, leant*
leap / leapt, leaped*
learn / learned, learnt*
leave / left
lend / lent
let / let
lie / lay
light / lighted, lit*
lose / lost
___________________________________________

Special Notes:
1.

For some verbs, the common past form in British

English ends in - t, but the same verbs end in - ed
in American English. Here are a few examples:
burn / burned, burnt
dream / dreamed, dreamt
lean / leaned, leant
learn / learned, learnt
smell / smelled, smelt
spill / spilled, spilt

2.

Notice that some verbs have two different past forms.

Here are a few examples:
bid / bid, bade
dive / dived, dove
forbid / forbade, forbad
knit / knitted, knit
light / lighted, lit
speed / sped, speeded

3.

The verb hang has two meanings and a different past

form for each meaning:
hang ("kill by hanging, with a noose") / hanged
hang ("suspend") / hung

4.

The past form of read has the same spelling as the

base form, but a different pronunciation:
read ( [ ryd ]) / read ( [ red ] )

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#4): Spelling the - S

Form, by Dennis Oliver

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses (#4):

Spelling the - S Form
English verbs have five basic forms: the base form, the - S form,
the - ing form, the past form, and the past participle form.
The - S form is very commonly used for main verbs and auxiliary
verbs in the simple present tense when the subject is or means
he, she, or it. The - S form is also very commonly used as a full
(has) or contracted ('s) auxiliary verb in the present perfect tense
when the subject is or means he, she, or it.
For be, the - S form is is. For have, it is has. For other verbs,
there are three different spellings: - s, - es, and - ies:
1.

Add - s to the base form.

This is the most common spelling for the -S form and
is the spelling used for most verbs.
Notice, especially, that - s is added when the base form
ends in one or more consonants + e:
aches, bakes, breathes, cares, caches, dives,
edges, fiddles, files, glares, hates, hopes, jokes,
lives, makes, notes, pastes, races, spares, surprises,
tastes, types, writes
Notice that - s is also added when the base form ends
in one or more consonants (but without e):
adds, bets, beats, calls, claps, cheats, cleans, digs,
drops, eats, fills, finds, fits, gets, grabs, hops, kills,
knits, links, lists, means, needs, opens, puts, quits,
robs, rings, rips, sends, stops, tells, trusts, voids,
wants, works, zips
In addition, notice this spelling is used with the small
number of verbs ending in two vowels (including - ie):
agrees, argues, boos, coos, flees, glues, moos,
sees, shoos, shoes, tees, woos

dies, lies, ties, vies

2.

Add - es to the base form.

This happens in two situations:
a.

when the base form ends in the vowel o:

does, goes, soloes

b.

when the base form ends in ss, sh,

(t)ch, zz, and x:
assesses, blesses, caresses, fusses,
kisses, misses, passes, tosses;
blushes, dashes, flashes, gnashes,
hushes, lashes, mashes, pushes, rushes,
splashes, stashes, washes, wishes;
catches, ditches, etches, flinches,
hitches, itches, marches, mooches,
patches, reaches, searches,
scratches, teaches, touches, watches;
buzzes, fizzes;
boxes, coaxes, faxes, fixes,
relaxes, vexes, waxes.

3.

Change y to i and add - es.

This happens when a verb ends in a consonant + y:
apply / applies; bury / buries;
carry / carries; copy / copies; cry / cries;
dry / dries; fly / flies; fry / fries;
hurry / hurries; marry / marries; pity / pities;
ply / plies; pry / pries; tidy / tidies; try / tries;
worry / worries.
Verbs that end in a vowel + y do not change the y
to i and then add - es, however:
buy / buys; employs / employs; enjoy / enjoys;
flay / flays; lay / lays; pay / pays; play / plays;
say / says; slay / slays; spray / sprays; stay / stays;
sway / sways;
Important:
Compare flay / flays, play / plays, and pray / prays
with fly / flies, ply / plies, and pry / pries to see
how these spelling rules work for verbs ending in s.

Nouns #2: Regular Countable Nouns (#1), by Dennis Oliver

Nouns #2:
Regular Countable Nouns (#1)
Regular countable nouns make their plurals by (1) adding
-s or -es to the singular form and (2) by changing final y
to i and adding -es if the singular form ends in a consonant
+ y.
Examples: adding -s and -es
1.

Most regular countable nouns make their plurals

plurals by adding -s to the singular form,
but nouns that end in -s, -z, -ch, -sh, and
-s add -es to the singular form:
bus / buses*
boss / bosses
gas / gases
lass / lasses
kiss / kisses
mess / messes
pass / passes
plus / pluses
quiz / quizzes*
whiz / whizzes*
coach / coaches
crutch / crutches
ditch / ditches
gulch / gulches
latch / latches
match / matches
notch / notches
patch / patches
porch / porches
pouch / pouches
torch / torches

bush / bushes
brush / brushes
dish / dishes
gash / gashes
lash / lashes
rush / rushes
splash / splashes
thrush / thrushes
wish / wishes
box / boxes
fax / faxes
fox / foxes
lynx / lynxes
mix / mixes
sphynx / sphynxes
tax / taxes

winch / winches
witch / witches
Notes:
a.

"Buses" is also spelled "busses."

b.

Words that end in a vowel + z double

the z before adding -es.

Examples: changing -y to i and adding -es

2.

Most regular countable nouns make their plurals

plurals by adding -s to the singular form, but
nouns that end in a consonant + y change the y
to i and then add -es to the singular form:
baby / babies
berry / berries
buggy / buggies
canary / canaries
city / cities
ferry / ferries
filly / fillies
fly / flies
flurry / flurries

gully / gullies
lily / lilies
peony / peonies
pony / ponies
quarry / quarries
query / queries
salary / salaries
story / stories
worry / worries

Note:
Regular nouns ending in a vowel + y do not
change the y to i and add -es; instead, they
simply add s:
alloy / alloys
boy / boys
buoy / buoys
decoy / decoys
display / displays
donkey / donkeys
envoy / envoys
guy / guys
key / keys

monkey / monkeys
play / plays
ray / rays
spray / sprays
stray / strays
toy / toys
tray / trays
turkey / turkeys
way / ways