Tuesday, September 30 th, 2014

 A regular verb never changes the main verb itself; it just adds a d or an ed when describing past actions:  dance—dance d talk—talk ed  Irregular verbs are unpredictable. When describing past actions, they might (1) stay the same, (2) change just a part of the word, or (3) change the whole word:  cut— cut grow— grew think— thought

 Remember to add the d or ed endings to mark the past, especially those endings that we don’t hear clearly!  Every day, I walk to work.  Yesterday, I walk ed to work.  For weeks now, I have walk ed to work.  Every night, we dance till dawn.  Last night, we dance d till dawn.  On many nights, we have dance d till dawn.

 Be extra careful when the word “to” follows a past tense verb; it’s easy to forget the verb ending because we don’t hear it.  Grammar used to be easy.  This is supposed to be fun.

 Remember to use the “ change y to i when you add –ed ” rule!  Present  We testif y.  Past  We testif ied.  Present  They appl y.  Past  They have appl ied.

 Some verbs stay the same in the present and the past.  Don’t be tempted to add an ending.  Example:  I quit!  Yesterday, I quit!

 The past tense of “TO BE” has both a singular and a plural form. Watch the subject/verb agreement. PresentPast SingularToday she is happy. Yesterday she was happy. PluralToday they are happy. Yesterday they were happy

Main VerbPast TensePast Participle ChooseChoseChosen BreakBrokeBroken ScreamScreamed BeginBeganBegun Past Participle

Past participle of a verb is different way to say a past tense verb. These past-tense verbs are formed from the past participle and some kind of a helping verb like has/ have/ had/ is/ was/ were :  He has asked the $1,000,000 question.  The case was decided in their favor.  She had written a prize-winning essay.  You have been selected to enter the Columbus Prize Patrol.

PresentPastPast Participle talktalked(has) talked dependdepended(has) depended testifytestified(has) testified scarescared(has) scared

PresentPastPast participle beginbeganbegun becomebecamebecome choosechosechosen cut leadled PresentPastPast participle gowentgone seesawseen forgetforgotforgotten givegavegiven dodiddone

The family had ___________ (drive) all the way to Disney World! driven

They have ___________ (add) water to the dry plant. added

Maria had ___________ (fall)on the playground at recess. fallen

The sisters have ___________ (eat) all the cupcakes. eaten

All the frogs have ___________ (jump) into the pond. jumped

I have ___________ (take) a Spanish class before. taken