Irregular Verbs

PAT TERN 1 : PRESENT = PAST = PARTICIPLE

These verbs are easy to learn!
Here’s a list of irregular verbs in English where all three forms (base form, past simple, and past
participle) are the same:
bet – bet – bet
broadcast – broadcast – broadcast
burst – burst – burst
cast – cast – cast
cost – cost – cost
cut – cut – cut
hit – hit – hit
hurt – hurt – hurt
let – let – let
put – put – put
read – read – read (pronunciation changes, spelling stays the same)
rid – rid – rid
set – set – set
shut – shut – shut
spread – spread – spread
split – split – split
quit – quit – quit
thrust – thrust – thrust
upset – upset – upset

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PAT TERN 2 : PRESENT // PAST = PARTICIPLE
These verbs are simple to learn!
Here’s a list of irregular verbs where the base form (infinitive) is different from both the past
simple and the past participle, but the past simple and past participle forms are the same:
1. -aught Pattern
– catch – caught – caught
– teach – taught – taught
2. -ought Pattern
– bring – brought – brought
– buy – bought – bought
– fight – fought – fought
– think – thought – thought
3. “-elt” Pattern
– feel – felt – felt
– leave – left – left
4. “-ept” Pattern
– creep – crept – crept
– keep – kept – kept
– sleep – slept – slept
– sweep – swept – swept
– weep – wept – wept
5. “-ood” Pattern
– stand – stood – stood
– understand – understood – understood
– withstand – withstood – withstood
6. “-ound” Pattern
– bind – bound – bound
– find – found – found
– grind – ground – ground
– wind – wound – wound
7.”-aid” Pattern
– lay – laid – laid
– pay – paid – paid
– say – said – said
8. “-old” Pattern
– sell – sold – sold
– tell – told – told
9. Mixed Pattern
– bleed – bled – bled
– breed – bred – bred
– feed – fed – fed
– have – had – had
– hold – held – held
– hear – heard – heard
– lead – led – led
– lose – lost – lost
– meet – met – met
– make – made – made
– mean – meant – meant
– read – read – read (pronunciation changes)
– shoot – shot – shot
– sit – sat – sat
– win – won – won

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PAT TERN 3 : PRESENT // PAST // PARTICIPLE
These verbs are fun to learn! You can almost sing them!!!
Here’s a list of irregular verbs where the base form, past simple, and past participle are all
different, grouped by similar patterns:
1. “-ew” -> “-own” Pattern
– blow – blew – blown
– draw – drew – drawn
– grow – grew – grown
– know – knew – known
– throw – threw – thrown
– fly – flew – flown
2. “-i” -> “-a” -> “-u” Pattern
– begin – began – begun
– drink – drank – drunk
– ring – rang – rung
– sing – sang – sung
– sink – sank – sunk
– shrink – shrank – shrunk
– spring – sprang – sprung
– swim – swam – swum
3. “-o” -> “-en” Pattern
– drive – drove – driven
– ride – rode – ridden
– rise – rose – risen
– strive – strove – striven
– write – wrote – written
– break – broke – broken
– speak – spoke – spoken
– choose – chose – chosen
– steal – stole – stolen
– forget – forgot – forgotten
– forgive – forgave – forgiven
– freeze – froze – frozen
– get – got – gotten
– get – got – got (In British English, “got” is often used as both the past and past participle)
– give – gave – given
– fall – fell – fallen
– shake – shook – shaken
– take – took – taken
– wake – woke – woken
4. Mixed Pattern
– (The most irregular of them all :be
am/are/is – was/were – been
– bid – bade – bidden
– bid – bid – bid
– come – came – come
– do – did – done
– draw – drew – drawn
– eat – ate – eaten
– go – went – gone
– hide – hid – hidden
– lie – lay – lain (to recline)
– see – saw – seen
– wear – wore – worn
– tear – tore – torn
– swear – swore – sworn
– bear (to carry) – bore – borne
– beat – beat – beaten

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IRREGULAR VERBS; WHY BUT WHY???
Irregular verbs are an interesting phenomenon in English and many other languages,
particularly because they don’t follow standard conjugation patterns, often reflecting older
linguistic forms.
There are some insightful statistics regarding how frequently we use irregular versus regular
verbs in English, which have been derived from linguistic studies on corpora (large databases of
actual language usage).
A) Frequency of Irregular Verbs vs. Regular Verbs
1. Word Frequency Studies:
Studies have shown that while irregular verbs are significantly fewer in number compared to
regular verbs, they tend to be used far more frequently in everyday speech and writing. There are
roughly **200 irregular verbs** in the English language, whereas the number of regular verbs is
vast, numbering in the thousands. However, the irregular verbs are among the most commonly
used verbs. (yeah!).
2. Corpus-Based Analysis:
According to a study by **Biber et al.** in the book *Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written
English* (1999), irregular verbs represent only 3% of all verbs in English by type (in terms of distinct
verb forms), but they account for 70% of all verb tokens (in terms of how often they are actually
used in conversation and texts). This stark contrast is due to the fact that many of the most
common verbs are irregular—verbs like “to be,” “to have,” “to do,” “to go,” and “to say.”
3. Zipf’s Law:
The frequency of irregular verbs also follows a pattern described by Zipf’s Law, which states
that words that are used more frequently are typically shorter and tend to resist regularization.
This is one of the reasons why verbs like “go,” “be,” and “have” have retained their irregular forms
—they are extremely frequent and thus unlikely to evolve into a regularized pattern due to
frequent reinforcement in usage.
4. Usage Data:
In an analysis of the **British National Corpus (BNC)** and the **Corpus of Contemporary
American English (COCA)**, linguist **Steven Pinker** highlights that the ten most common verbs in
English—most of which are irregular—make up nearly 20% of all verb occurrences in typical
language use. Regular verbs, although more numerous overall, tend to be less frequently used on
an individual basis compared to the more “basic” verbs that tend to be irregular.
B) Why Irregular Verbs Are More Common in Usage
– High-Frequency Historical Roots: Irregular verbs often come from Old English or other older
forms of the language, making them embedded in the core of the language and its everyday
usage.
– Cognitive Efficiency: Frequent usage of these verbs means that their irregular forms are easy to
remember and quick to recognize for native speakers. The brain tends to retain frequent forms
through rote memory, which is why irregular verbs have been able to survive despite being less
systematic.
C) A Breakdown in Numbers
– The top 25 verbs used in English include around 16 irregular verbs, according to linguistic
frequency data.
– For example, verbs like “to be,” “to have,” “to do,” and “to say” are extremely common and all
irregular.
– By contrast, regular verbs are less likely to appear frequently unless they are highly specific to a
context (e.g., “explain,” “calculate”).
D) To summarize:
– Irregular Verbs: Although they constitute a small fraction of all English verbs (about **3%** by
type), they dominate actual usage, appearing in approximately **70%** of spoken and written
contexts.
– Regular Verbs: They make up the majority of verbs in English (about **97%** by type) but are
individually used much less frequently than irregular verbs.
E) Conclusion
Irregular verbs, despite being fewer in number, dominate language usage. This phenomenon is
largely due to the frequency and importance of many irregular verbs in daily communication.
Therefore, most of the verbs we use frequently in English are irregular, accounting for the bulk of
verb usage in conversation and writing. This pattern is supported by data from linguistic studies of
corpora like BNC and COCA, and by cognitive theories such as Zipf’s Law.

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IRREGULAR VERBS; WHY NOT!!!
Irregular verbs in English exist primarily because of the language’s complex history and the
evolution of its grammar over time. Here are the key reasons:
1. Historical Linguistic Roots
– Germanic Origins: English is a Germanic language, and many of its irregular verbs date back to
Old English, which had strong and weak verbs. Strong verbs formed their past tense by changing
the vowel of the root word (e.g., “sing” to “sang”), a pattern inherited from Proto-Germanic, the
ancient ancestor of English and other Germanic languages. This process is known as **ablaut**.
– Weak Verbs: In contrast, weak verbs (which are now considered regular) formed their past
tense by adding a suffix, such as “-ed.” Over time, this regular pattern became dominant, but
many strong verbs retained their original forms, becoming what we now call irregular verbs.
2. Language Evolution
– Sound Changes: As English evolved, especially through the Middle English period, sound
changes and shifts affected how verbs were conjugated. Some verbs that were once regular
became irregular due to these shifts, while others retained their irregular forms from Old English.
– Analogy and Regularization: While many irregular verbs stayed the same, some were
regularized over time (e.g., “help” used to be “holp” in the past tense but is now “helped”).
However, the most frequently used verbs in the language tend to resist regularization because
their irregular forms are deeply embedded in the language through constant use.
3. Influence of Other Languages
– Norman Conquest: The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought a significant influx of French
vocabulary into English, and with it, changes in grammar and syntax. While this had a greater
impact on vocabulary, it also contributed to the complex nature of English verb forms.
– Latin and Other Influences: The influence of Latin, through the church and later through
education, also left its mark on English verb forms, adding to the complexity.
4. Frequency of Use*
– Common Verbs Resist Change: Irregular verbs tend to be among the most commonly used
verbs in the language (e.g., “be,” “have,” “go,” “do”). Because they are so frequently used, these
verbs are more resistant to change. Speakers are more likely to retain the traditional forms of
these verbs because they are used so often.
5. Analogy and Irregularity Persistence
– Analogical Levelling: Although English has a tendency to regularize irregular verbs over time,
strong verbs with similar vowel changes often get reinforced through analogy, where one irregular
verb influences the preservation of similar irregular forms in other verbs (e.g., “sing-sang-sung”
and “ring-rang-rung”).
– Memory and Tradition: Irregular forms are often passed down through generations, and
learners are typically taught these forms early on, reinforcing their use and perpetuation.
6. Simplification vs. Tradition
– Linguistic Drift: While languages tend to simplify over time, especially as they spread to non-
native speakers, certain forms remain due to their historical roots or because they carry
distinctions that help in communication. For example, irregular verbs often signal a shift in tense
or aspect in a way that is instantly recognizable, helping to maintain clarity in communication.
Conclusion:
Irregular verbs in English are a result of the language’s history, including its Germanic roots, the
impact of sound changes, and the influence of other languages. The persistence of these irregular
forms is largely due to their frequency of use and the human tendency to preserve traditional
forms, especially in common and essential words.

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PAT TERNS YOU SAY?
The idea that patterns can help in recognizing and memorizing irregular verb forms is rooted in
several principles of cognitive psychology and language acquisition. Here’s the science behind it:
1. Pattern Recognition and Memory
– Chunking: Our brains are better at remembering information when it’s grouped into meaningful
chunks or patterns. Instead of memorizing each irregular verb form individually, recognizing a
pattern (e.g., “sing-sang-sung”) allows you to store and recall these verbs more efficiently as a
group.
– Associative Learning: When verbs are grouped by similar patterns, learning one verb can help
trigger the memory of another with a similar pattern. For example, if you remember “sing-sang-
sung,” it may help you recall “ring-rang-rung.”
2. Analogical Reasoning
– Analogy: Humans naturally use analogy to extend known information to new situations. If you
know the pattern for one set of verbs (e.g., “begin-began-begun”), you can apply that
understanding to other verbs with similar changes (like “drink-drank-drunk”). This is a way of
leveraging familiar patterns to learn new information more efficiently.
3. Cognitive Load Theory
– **Reducing Cognitive Load:** By organizing irregular verbs into patterns, you’re reducing the
cognitive load on your working memory. Instead of treating each verb as an entirely unique entity,
you’re simplifying the learning process by reducing the number of distinct pieces of information
you need to remember.
4. **Schema Theory
– Building Schemas: Our brains build schemas—mental frameworks that help us organize and
interpret information. Grouping irregular verbs into patterns helps you develop a schema for how
certain types of verbs behave, making it easier to predict and remember their forms.
5. Repetition and Spaced Retrieval
– **Reinforcing Memory:** Encountering similar patterns repeatedly reinforces memory. When
you see multiple verbs following the same pattern, each encounter strengthens your memory of
that pattern, making it easier to retrieve the information when needed.
6. Phonological Patterns
– **Sound Patterns:** Many irregular verbs follow similar phonological changes (like “i” to “a” to
“u”). Recognizing these sound patterns can make it easier to recall verb forms, as our brains are
sensitive to phonological patterns in language.
7. Language Evolution and Regularization
– **Historical Linguistics:** Irregular verbs often follow remnants of older, now less common
patterns in the language. While they don’t conform to the regular -ed pattern of English past tense
verbs, they do often conform to older patterns. Grouping these verbs helps learners tap into these
historical patterns, which can make learning more intuitive.
By using these patterns, learners can reduce the complexity of learning irregular verbs, making it
a more manageable task that aligns with how our brains naturally process and store information.