Kevin
November 11, 2021
Common Questions

Do you know what irregular verbs are? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on irregular verbs, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

What are irregular verbs?

According to Grammar Monster, an irregular verb is a verb that does not conjugate in a standard way. This verb does not form the simple past tense or past participle by adding “-ed” or “-d” to the base form like regular verbs do. These can be formed differently in American English versus British English. An irregular verb can be either a weak verb or a strong verb. A verb is weak when its past forms end “–d” or “-t”. If people do not know irregular verb forms it can lead to a lot of spelling errors because people may not know how to form the end of the word.

What are examples of irregular verbs?

Irregular verbs can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of irregular verbs that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Take a look at these and irregular verbs examples from Canvas and see how many you can identify!

ride – rode – ridden

drink – drank – drunk

eat – ate – eaten

take – took – taken

creep – creeped – crept

draw – drew – drawn

swim – swam – swum

mean – meant – meant

choose – chose – chosen

begin – began – begun

see – saw – has seen

speak – spoke – spoken

sell – sold – sold

say – said – said

feel – felt – felt

go – went – gone

meet – met – met

go – went – has gone

get – got – gotten

make – made – made

forget – forgot – forgotten

come – came – has come

fall – fell – fallen

give – gave – given

keep – kept – kept

leave – left – left

have – had – had

say – said – has said

blow – blew – blown

find – found – found

tell – told – told

hear – heard – heard

think – thought – has thought

understand – understood – understood

bring – brought – brought

make – made – has made

run – ran – run

write – wrote – written

fly – flew – flown

know – knew – has known

lose – lost – lost

teach – taught – taught

know – knew – known

buy – bought – bought

rise – rose – risen

take – took – has taken

become – became – become

fight – fought – fought

think – thought – thought

drive – drove – driven

come – came – come

break – broke – broken

put – put – put

be – was/were – has been

quit – quit – quit

read – read – read

send – sent – sent

see – saw – seen

pay – paid – paid

do – did – done

arise – arose – arisen

be – was/were – been

beat – beat – beaten

bend – bent – bent

bet – bet – bet

bind – bound – bound

bite – bit – bitten

bleed – bled – bled

breed – bred – bred

build – built – built

catch – caught – caught

cost – cost – cost

cut – cut – cut

deal – dealt – dealt

dig – dug – dug

feed – fed – fed

forbid – forbade – forbidden

forgive – forgave – forgiven

freeze – froze – frozen

get – got – got ()

gotten ()

grow – grew – grown

hide – hid – hidden

hit – hit – hit

hold – held – held

hurt – hurt – hurt

lay – laid – laid

lead – led – led

lend – lent – lent

let – let – let

lie – lay – lain

light – lit – lit

ring – rang – rung

set – set – set

shake – shook – shaken

shine – shone – shone

shoot – shot – shot

show – showed – shown

shut – shut – shut

sing – sang – sung

sink – sank – sunk

sit – sat – sat

sleep – slept – slept

slide – slid – slid

spend – spent – spent

spin – spun – spun

spread – spread – spread

stand – stood – stood

steal – stole – stolen

stick – stuck – stuck

sting – stung – stung

strike – struck – struck

swear – swore – sworn

sweep – swept – swept

swing – swung – swung

tear – tore – torn

throw – threw – thrown

wake – woke – woken

wear – wore – worn

win – won – won

withdraw – withdrew – withdrawn

smell – smelled – smelt

shrink – shrank – shrunk

What are other grammatical terms?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.

genitive

head

abstract

vocative

nominative

object | direct object | indirect object

imperative (imper.)

first person

intensifier

determiner

non-referential

construed (const., constr.)

accusative

positive

anaphoric

past participle

masculine

copular verb | copula

prefix

preposition (prep.)

noun (n.)

superlative

that-clause

demonstrative

apposition

singular

third-person

mass noun

attributive

agree | agreement

part of speech

direct speech

periphrasis | periphrastic

protasis

helping verb

sentence adverb |sentence adverbial

gender

impersonal (impers.)

passive infinitive

interrogative

noun phrase

finite

combination

interjection

transitive

phrase (phr.)

verb (v.)

filler

main clause

definite article

cataphoric

participle | past participle | present participle

suffix

direct object

possessive

progressive

collocation | collocate

number

instrumental

feminine

adjective

pleonasm | pleonastic

case

double object

postmodify | postmodifier

combining form (comb. form)

similative

active

prepositional passive

modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary

stem

neuter

perfect

plural

relative

indirect passive

agent noun

pronoun (pron.)

declarative

complement

construction

indirect speech

adverbial | adverbially

nominal relative | nominal relative clause

count noun

compound | compounding

concrete

past tense

possessive adjective

inflection | inflected | inflectional

clause

prepositional phrase

article

conjunction (conj.)

proper noun | proper name

comparative

person

collective noun

apodosis and protasis

zero

modify | modifier

conditional

intransitive

adverb (adv.)

phrasal verb

indefinite

auxiliary verb | auxiliary

mood

possessive pronoun

special use

pro-form

quasi-

verbal noun

main verb

simple

indirect object

parenthetical | parenthetically

bare infinitive

prepositional object

predicative

subjunctive

element

ellipsis | elliptical

premodify | premodifier

second person

causative

subject

personal pronoun

objective

absolute (absol.)

appositive

optative

complementary

participial adjective

dual

locative

present tense

to-infinitive

common noun

infinitive

subjective

unmarked genitive

indirect question

passive

non-finite

parasynthetic

reflexive

indicative

cognate object

present participle

direct question

subordinate clause

gerund

dative

morpheme

anticipatory

base form

tense

antecedent

Overall, irregular verbs form the simple past and past participle differently than is usual.

Sources:

Irregular Verb Examples: What They Are and How To Use Them

Your writing, at its best

What are irregular verbs?

What are examples of irregular verbs?

What are other grammatical terms?

Sources:

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