by Susan Jones
The principal parts of the English verb are the base form, the simple past, and the past participle. For regular verbs, the simple past and the past participle are spelled the same and are created by adding -ed to the base form. However, there are many irregular verbs in English which do not conform to this pattern.
The additional forms of the verb in English are the -s form (3rd person singular present), and the present participle, which is created by adding -ing to the base form. There are no irregular forms of the present participle, so the spelling of any verb will adhere to the rules of spelling for regular inflection.
Verbs in English can be classified according to three different criteria: tense (present, past), aspect (perfect, progressive), and modality. There are only 2 true tenses in English, simple present and simple past, where the actual spelling of the word changes to reflect the change of tense. All the other 'tenses' are variations of the principal parts, which are combined with different auxiliary words to change the aspect or modality of the verb
Following are the rules for using the principal parts of a verb, as well as a list of the irregular verbs showing all 3 parts, and a complete list of all the verb 'tenses' in English.
This list focuses on
the U.S. spellings of these words. In the future, we hope to create--or
to link to--a list of the differences between U.S. and British spellings
for irregular verbs.
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We want to thank Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Gostischev, a student at the Economic Academy in Cherkessk, Russia, for suggesting additions to the list. This observant student of English has helped with numerous additional verbs so that the list is moving closer to our goal of being "complete." We look forward to more suggestions from "Slava"--and any others who want to help us with this task. |
Rules for using the principal parts of a verb
Complete list of verb 'tenses'
Self-Test for Knowledge of the Spelling of Simple Past Tense of Irregular Verbs
Self-Test
for Knowledge of the Spelling of Past Participle of Irregular Verbs
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Pat Byrd
Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30302
patbyrd@gsu.edu
Telephone: 404-651-2934