Regular and irregular verbs
- Exercises with answers
- PDF worksheets with keys
- Regular verbs list with speelling changes
- Irregular verbs list PDF
English grammar books PDF
PDF book 1: English tenses exercises
PDF book 2: English grammar exercises
PDF book 3: English grammar rules
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Regular + irregular verbs exercises
Regular verbs
1. The regular past simple tense in the English language is usually formed by -ed ending (work - worked, stay - stayed). It is the same for all persons, singular and plural: I started, you started, he started, we played, they played.
The spelling rules
a) We add -d (not -ed) to the word that ends in -e. Examples: like - liked, love -loved.
b) If it ends in a consonant and -y, we change -y into -i. Examples: carry - carried, try - tried.
But: play - played, because it ends in a vowel and -y.
c) If the regular verb has only one syllable and ends in a single vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant to keep the same pronunciation. Examples: stop - stopped, fit - fitted.
The same rule applies to expressions with more syllables if the stress falls on the last syllable: ad'mit - admitted, pre'fer - preferred.
But: 'enter - entered (the stress is not on the last syllable).
In words ending in -l the consonant is always doubled after a single vowel: travel - travelled.
2. The regular past participle is the same. It is also formed by -ed ending (worked, stayed). It is used in perfect tenses and passive voice: I have started, you had started, he will have started, it was started.
Irregular verbs in English
There are basically three irregular verb forms in English:
1.The base form (or the bare infinitive): draw, lead, read, dream
2. The past tense (also called preterite): drew, led, read, dreamt or dreamed
3. The past participle (sometimes called perfect participle): drawn, led, read, dreamt or dreamed
As you can see from the examples above, some of the forms are completely different (draw - drew - drawn), some have a different infinitive, but the two other ones are the same (lead - led - led), some have the same spelling, but different pronunciation (read - read - read), some can be both regular and irregular (dream - dreamt/dreamed - dreamt/dreamed) and some have the same spelling and pronunciation (set - set - set).
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