Irregular verbs
All new verbs in English are regular.
I photocopied the report.
She faxed it to me.
They emailed every**** about it.
I googled my name and got more than 20 000 responses.
There are approximately 180 Irregular verbs. You don’t need to learn all of them because some of these are very rare but many others are very useful and you do need to know them.
What’s the easiest way to learn them? Some people think you should learn a list ‘by heart’. Others think you should not learn them at all – you will just gradually acquire them over time.
One useful method is to note down new Irregular verbs as you meet them. It is useful to write these verbs (or any vocabulary you want to learn) in sentences and learn those rather than the individual word.
Which is easier to learn?
stick stuck stuck
I stuck the photo into my album.
Another technique is to classify the Irregular verbs into 4 categories.
1. All forms the same
set set set
cost cost cost
2. Similar sound groups
beat beat beaten
eat ate eaten
blow blew blown
throw threw thrown
drink drank drunk
sing sang sung
speak spoke spoken
wake woke woken
3. The second and third forms are the same.
bend bent bent
sleep slept slept
spend spent spent
bring brought brought
buy bought bought
teach taught taught
have had had
pay paid paid
say said said
4. The "unclassifiables"
come came come
do did done
go went gone
show showed show