Verbs are subdivided into two groups, regular verbs and irregular verbs, on the basis of how their past tense and past participles are formed.
Regular and Irregular Verbs in English
Regular Verbs
Most verbs are regular verbs. Regular verbs are those whose past tense and past participles are formed by adding a -d or an -ed to the end of the verb.
For examples:
- arrange – arranged – arranged
- arrive – arrived – arrived
- ask – asked – asked
- attack – attacked – attacked
- bake – baked – baked
- behave – behaved – behaved
- believe – believed – believed
- belong – belonged – belonged
- blame – blamed – blamed
- borrow – borrowed – borrowed
- bother – bothered – bothered
- call – called – called
- cancel – canceled – canceled
- roll – rolled – rolled
…
Irregular Verbs
There is no formula to predict how an irregular verb will form its past-tense and past-participle forms. There are over 250 irregular verbs in English. Although they do not follow a formula, there are some fairly common irregular forms.
For examples:
- be – was/ were – been
- bear – bore – born (e)
- beat – beat – beaten
- become – became – become
- burst – burst – burst
- buy – bought – bought
- catch – caught – caught
- choose – chose – chosen
- cling – clung – clung
- come – came – come
- cost – cost – cost
- creep – crept – crept
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