AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
      The conjugation of these verbs shows that their Past           Some weak verbs their Past Tense and Past
Tense and Past Participle are formed by adding the suffiz            Participle in -t after shortening their long inside
-ed, -d or -t to their Present Tense form. They are called           vowel.
weak verbs, because they cannot form their Past Tense                Present Tense Past Tense              Past Participle
and Past Participle without the help of the suffixes -ed, -d              deal               dealt              dealt
or -t.                                                                    dream              deamt              dreamt
      On the other hand, when a Verb in the Present Tense                 dwell              dwelt              dwelt
forms its Past Tense and Past Participle by changing or                   feel               felt               felt
shortening its inside vowel, it is called a strong Verb.
                                                                          keep               kept               kept
      For example,
                                                                          kneel              knelt              knelt
  Verbs Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle
                                                                          mean               meant              meant
  come           come          came             come
                                                                          creep              crept              crept
  sing            sing          sang             sung
                                                                          sleep              slept              slept
  see              see           saw             seen
                                                                          smell              smelt              smelt
  take            take          took            taken
                                                                          spell              spelt              spelt
  speak          speak         spoke           spoken
                                                                          sweep              swept              swept
  write          write         wrote           written
                                                              Weak Verb Suffixes : their addition and Pronunciation
Note : Weak Verbs are also called Regular verbs; while,
                                                                   Most weak verbs add -ed (pronounced d, id or t) in
strong verbs are Irregular Verbs.
                                                              their Past Tense and Past Participle.
      We can detect a weak Verb from a strong Verb by :
                                                                 1. -ed pronounced -t : weak Verbs ending in df, h, k,
    (i) finding the absence of -d or -t in the Present Tense         p, s, ss and sh sounds add the suffix -ed in the
         of the Verb.                                                Past Tense and Past Participle.
         For example,                                            f : puff - puffed (puft)          rebuff - rebuffed (uft)
    Present         Past        Present       Past                   cough - coughed (cuft)        laugh - laughted (luft)
    Tense           Tense       Tense         Tense                  bluff - bluffed (bluft)       stuff - stuffed (stuft)
    believe         believed    think         thought           h : march - marched (t)            search - searched (t)
    sell            sold        bring         brought                reach - reached (t)           touch - touched (t)
    work            worked      owe           ought                  attach - attached (t)         enrich - enriched (t)
    tell            told        burn          burnt                  patch - patched (t)           perch - perched (t)
    teach           taught      catch         caught                 preach - preached (t)         watch - watched (t)
    flee            fled        buy           bought            k : talk - talked (t)              pack - packed (t)
    seek            sought                                           kick - kicked (t)             lurk - lurked (t)
   (ii) Finding the Verbs ending in -d which this -d to -t in        shock - shocked (t)           burk - burked (t)
         the Past Tense.
                                                                     peck - pecked (t)             wink - winked (t)
              Present Tense           Past Tense
                                                                     risk - risked (t)             walk - walked (t)
              bend                    bent
                                                                     blink - blinked (t)           wreck - wrecked (t)
              send                    sent
                                                                     bask - basked (t)             suck - sucked (t)
              spend                   spent
                                                                     cork - corked (t)             work - worked (t)
              lend                    lent
                                                                     shriek - shrieked (t)
              build                   built
                                                                p : harp - harped (t)              heap - heaped (t)
              rend                    rent
                                                                     jump - jumped (t)             help - helped (t)
  (iii) Finding the Verbs ending in -d or -t which simply
                                                                     reap - reaped (t)             gasp - gasped (t)
         shorten the vowel sound in the Past Tense.
                                                                     trap - traped (t)             trip - triped (t)
    Present         Past        Present       Past
                                                                     carp - carped (t)             leap - leaped (t)
    Tense           Tense       Tense         Tense
                                                                     camp - camped (t)             pump - pumped (t)
    speed           sped        lead          led
                                                                     clasp - clasped (t)           grasp - grasped (t)
    feed            fed         flee          fled
                                                                s : pass - passed (t)              mass - massed (t)
    free            freed       shoot         shot
                                                                     miss - missed (t)             address - addressed (t)
    meet            met         read          read
                                                                     dismiss - dismissed (t)       cross - crossed (t)
  (iv) finding the Verbs ending in -d or -t which have the
                                                                     discuss - discussed (t)       express - expressed (t)
         same form for the Present and Past Tense.
                                                                     canvass - canvassed (t)       confess - confessed (t)
    Present         Past        Present       Past
                                                                                                   impress - impressed (t)
    Tense           Tense       Tense         Tense
                                                                     toss - tossed (t)
    spread          spread      split         split
                                                               Sh : dash - dashed (t)              wish - wished (t)
    shut            shut        cut           cut
                                                                     banish - banished (t)         brush - brushed (t)
    hit             hit         let           let
                                                                     push - pushed (t)             rush - rushed (t)
    put             put         thrust        thrust
                                                                     wash - washed (t)             blush - blushed (t)
    bet             bet         burst         burst
                                                                     flash - flashed (t)           abolish - abolished (t)
    cast            cast        cost          cost
                                                                     relish - relished (t)         crash - crashed (t)
    hurt            hurt        rid           rid
                                                                     demolish - demolished (t)
    set             set         shed          shed
                                                          SEE–39