Irregular Verbs
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Irregular Verbs
A verb is called a regular verb if its past tense and past participle are formed by adding -ed (waited, insisted) or sometimes just -d (breathed, replaced). Verbs in English are irregular if they don’t have a conventional -ed ending in the past tense.
Example: Go (present tense), went (past tense), gone (past participle)
Note: Do not use helping verbs such as has or have with the past tense form of an irregular verb. Use helping verbs only with an irregular verb’s past participle.
Example: I went to the store. I have gone to the store. NOT I have went to the store.
Present tense (used alone or with helping verbs such as will, did, etc.)
go
swim
run
Past tense
went
swam
ran
Past participle (used with helping verbs such as have, has, will have, etc.)
gone
swum
run
Present participle (-ing ending formed with to be verbs such as is, have been, will be, could have been, etc.)
going
swimming
running
Examples with go:
I go to my aunt’s house in the afternoon.
I will go to my aunt’s house.
I went to my aunt’s house yesterday.
I have gone to my aunt’s house every afternoon this week.
I am going to my aunt’s house this afternoon.
Examples with swim:
I swim at my aunt’s house in the afternoon.
I will swim at my aunt’s house.
I swam at my aunt’s house yesterday.
I have swum at my aunt’s house every afternoon this week.
I will be swimming at my aunt’s house this afternoon.
Examples with run:
I run around the track daily.
I will run around the track every day this week.
I ran around the track yesterday.
I have run around the track every day this week.
I am running around the track every day this week.
Pop Quiz
1. I will run/ran for office next year.
2. I have run/ran for office twice.
3. I have went/gone to the dentist but my tooth still hurts.
4. I have swam/swum the butterfly stroke in competition.
5. He ringed/rang the bell before entering.
6. He has rang/rung the bell twice but no one has answered.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. I will run for office next year.
2. I have run for office twice.
3. I have gone to the dentist but my tooth still hurts.
4. I have swum the butterfly stroke in competition.
5. He rang the bell before entering.
6. He has rung the bell twice but no one has answered.
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
You repeated the Pop Quiz questions in the Pop Quiz Answers portion. I thought you’d like to know.
By the way, I purchased your book after finding this website. It’s well-loved. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Emily, for pointing out the error. The corrections have been made.
Thanks so much for this useful information .I will purchase the book too!!
You are welcome, Jessica.
Kindly convert this sentense into present tence ,”He rose to his feet and went away”
“He is rising to his feet and is going away.” or “He rises to his feet and goes away.”
Good day. Can you please help me with the following: The fridge and freezer were or was?
In accordance with our Rule 6 of Subject and Verb Agreement:
Rule 6 – As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
Therefore, your sentence should be “The fridge and freezer were . . . “
At this time I am going to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming again to read
other news.
Are you asking us if your sentence is correct? If so, one way to write it could be: “I am going to have my breakfast now. After that I am going to read the newspaper.”
I hope I’m not offending anything here, but in the group of sentences representing the forms with “go”, one particular one stands out – “I’ve gone to my grandmother’s house… etc.; while It might be implied that your examples are here to represent proper grammar forms, I would expect the speaker of that sentence to have said “I have been to my grandmother’s house… ” assuming the speaker is in the same room as the listener, and the speaker happens not to be at the granmother’s house during the conversation. Wouldn’t you agree? But this page did help me find an answer to a different question I was hunting down, so thanks.
We cannot agree that “I’ve gone to” and “I have been to” are synonymous. Nor is one more correct than the other, except perhaps in a specific context.
There’s a car insurance commercial on TV that I’m sure is correct, but it sounds wrong to me. I believe the sentence they use is:
“Don’t they know I’m already shaken up?” “already shook up” is what I thought it should be. Help.
The wording of the commercial is correct. In technical terms, the past participle, “shaken,” must be used with a helping verb (“am”). “Shook” is the past tense form of shake (The house shook) and does not take auxiliary verbs.
I struggling with a couple of sentences I am seeing frequently in my work environment, and would appreciate clarificaion:
“This is a report that Bob has ran for Harry in the past. Bob might be able to provide other information regarding how it was ran.”
Could you please provide clarification on the two uses of the word “ran” above?
Since the helping verbs has and was are used with the verb, the past participle run should be used. Therefore, the sentence should be written “This is a report that Bob has run for Harry in the past. Bob might be able to provide other information regarding how it was run.”
Can you have a ing word in present form as an adverb while the verb is in the past tense?
Hearing a low deep growl, Sue awoke abruptly.
Shouting in a high pitch, Sue stomped away.
The words hearing and shouting are not adverbs. They are present participle forms of verbs. Sometimes you will see a present participle form of a verb used with another action verb to indicate parallel activity.