Real-Life Writing © Scholastic Teaching Resources
6. Irregular Verbs
regular verbs form their past and past
participle by adding -ed. As you learned on pages 34 and 35, irregular verbs
As you learned on pages 32 and 33,
form their past and past participle in very different ways.
Example: (present) Let’s sing that song together.
(past) They sang off key.
(past participle) They have sung that song too often.
Use the lists on these pages to help you choose the correct forms of irregular verbs in
your writing. You can also use a dictionary to find irregular past and past participle
forms. Look under the present tense form of the verb.
Present
Past
Past Participle
(Use with have, has, had.)
be
become
begin
bet
break
bring
buy
choose
cut
draw
drive
fall
feel
find
forgive
was
became
began
bet
broke
brought
bought
chose
cut
drew
drove
fell
felt
found
forgave
been
become
begun
bet
broken
brought
bought
chosen
cut
drawn
driven
fallen
felt
found
forgiven
Here are some sample sentences using present forms.
Please be quiet.
The story begins on page 8.
Your sad story breaks my heart.
I drive to work every day on Route 8.
She buys too much stuff from the Shopping Channel.
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Real-Life Writing © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Here are some sample sentences using past and past participle forms.
He was tired. He had been out late the night before.
She became a teacher. She has become devoted to her students.
They began a neighborhood campaign. They have begun to find a lot of support.
He bet that Tony would win the race. He had bet on Tony before.
Last year Tony broke racing records. Has he broken any this year?
You bought a lot of stuff today. Have you ever bought that much before?
He cut his hand while he was working. He had cut his arm the same way last year.
He drove the Land Rover through Mercer Park. Had he driven that way before?
I forgave him for making fun of me. I have forgiven him many times before.
Present
Past
Past Participle
(Use with have, has, had.)
hide
hit
keep
lean
leave
lose
meet
ride
run
send
shake
shrink
sink
sit
speak
stand
steal
swim
teach
tear
think
throw
understand
win
write
hid
hit
kept
leaned
left
lost
met
rode
ran
sent
shook
shrank
sank
sat
spoke
stood
stole
swam
taught
tore
thought
threw
understood
won
wrote
hidden
hit
kept
leaned
left
lost
met
ridden
run
sent
shaken
shrunk
sunk
sat
spoken
stood
stolen
swum
taught
torn
thought
thrown
understood
won
written
Here are some sample sentences using
present forms.
He hides his fears from other people.
She keeps her money under the
mattress.
Please leave the check in my mailbox.
I often lose my car keys.
He often rides the bus to Boston.
Below are a few sample sentences using past
and past participle forms.
They hid the prize behind the tree.
They have never hidden it there
before.
He kept the money in a safe. Has
he always kept his money there?
She left the kids at the day-care
center. She had left their lunch in
the kitchen.
Mary lost the race. She had never lost
a race before.
He rode his bike to work today. He has
ridden it to work all summer.
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