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Business English Grammar Irregular verbs

Posted on October 5, 2019August 27, 2020 by admin
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Table of Contents

  • Regular verbs
  • Irregular verbs
  • 1. All forms the same
  • 2. Similar sound groups
  • 3. The second and third forms are the same. 
  • 4. The “unclassifiables” 
  • Exercise

Regular verbs

All new verbs in English are regular.

  • I photocopied the report.
  • She faxed it to me.
  • They emailed everybody about it.
  • I googled my name and got more than 20 000 responses.

Irregular verbs

There are approximately 180 irregular verbs. You don’t need to learn all of them because some of these are very rare but many others are very useful and you do need to know them.
What’s the easiest way to learn them? Some people think you should learn a list ‘by heart’. Others think you should not learn them at all – you will just gradually acquire them over time.
One useful method is to note down new irregular verbs as you meet them. It is useful to write these verbs (or any vocabulary you want to learn) in sentences and learn those rather than the individual word.
Which is easier to learn?

  • Swim swam swum
  • I swam In the pool.

Another technique is to classify the irregular verbs into 4 categories.


1. All forms the same

  • set set set
  • cost cost cost

2. Similar sound groups

  • beat beat beaten 
  • eat ate eaten
  • blow blew blown
  • throw threw thrown
  • drink drank drunk
  • sing sang sung
  • speak spoke spoken
  • wake woke woken

3. The second and third forms are the same. 

  • bend bent bent 
  • sleep slept slept
  • spend spent spent
  • bring brought brought
  • buy bought bought
  • teach taught 8
  • have had had
  • pay paid paid
  • say said said

4. The “unclassifiables” 

  • come came come 
  • do did done
  • go went gone
  • show showed show

Exercise

Get a free recording of 100 irregular verbs

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Grammar

  • Regular actions -the Present Simple
  • Business English Grammar 2- perfect the Present Continuous
  • Business English Grammar 3- perfect Present Simple or Present Continuous
  • Business English Grammar 4 – perfect the Past Simple
  • Business English Grammar 5- Perfect the Past Continuous
  • Business English Grammar 5- Master Past Simple or Continuous
  • Business English Grammar Irregular verbs
  • Present Perfect English Grammar
  • Business English Grammar Present Perfect Simple vs Present Perfect Continuous
  • Business English Grammar Present Perfect Continuous
  • Business English Grammar Past Simple or Present Perfect
  • Business English Grammar Past Perfect
  • Business English Grammar Past Perfect Continuous
  • Business English Grammar Past Review 1
  • Business English Grammar Past Review 2
  • Business English Grammar Going to
  • Business English Grammar Will Future
  • Business English Grammar Will be doing
  • Business English Grammar Will or Going to
  • Business English Grammar The Future – present forms
  • Business English Grammar Will – other uses
  • Business English Grammar Shall
  • Business English Grammar The Passive
  • Business English Grammar The Imperative
  • Business English Grammar The -ing form
  • Business English Grammar Can
  • Could grammar
  • Business English Grammar May/Might
  • Business English Grammar Should 1
  • Business English Grammar Should 2
  • Business English Grammar Must/Have to
  • Business English Grammar Zero Conditional
  • Business English Grammar First Conditional
  • Business English Grammar Second Conditional
  • Business English Grammar Third Conditional
  • Wish grammar – I wish
  • Had better grammar /had better not
  • Business English Grammar Used to
  • Business English Grammar Ask Questions 1
  • Business English Grammar Ask Questions 2
  • Question tags -master isn’t it grammar
  • Business English Grammar Reported Speech 1
  • Business English Grammar Reported Speech 2
  • Business English Grammar Suppose 1
  • Business English Grammar Suppose 2
  • Business English Grammar Have something done
  • Business English Grammar Should Have
  • Business English Grammar Can/Could have
  • Business English Grammar Will have done
  • Business English Phrases 32- perfect more MAKE expressions

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