Lesson twelve

12.1     REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS

We have learned in previous chapter how to form the past tense and how to use helping verbs to show that something has already happened. We saw that for most verbs, we form the past tense and participles by adding -d or -ed to the verb. Verbs that follow this rule are called Regular Verbs.

Examples:

The framer planted his crops last month. – past tense The crops have been planted recently. – past participle.

For all regular verbs, the past and the past participles are spelled alike. They are made up by adding -d or -ed to the present form of the verb.

Examples:

The spelling of many regular verbs changes when –d or -ed is added i.e. the last consonant is doubled before adding -d or -ed. For those ending -y, it is dropped and replaced with –i:

12.2     Exercise 12

Write the present, past and past participles of the following verbs. Remember to change the spelling appropriately where necessary.

  1. prevent                                          6. aid
  2. donate                                           7. relieve
  3. hurry                                             8. share
  4. worry                                            9. enrol
  5. train                                             10. save