Grammar Lesson: Irregular Verbs

Activity 1- Working With Irregular Verbs

Underline the correct form of the irregular verbs that appear in Irregular Verbs (Part One).

1. All of the most talented golfers (came, come) to the big tournament last year.
2. Emma has (draw, drew, drawn) a caricature of her uncle spending a dollar that weekend.
3. Did this set of glasses (cost, costed) much money?
4. Has James already (drink, drank, drunk) the entire bottle of water?
5. Ellie (held, holded) her breath as her brother attempted to start his car.
6. These religious leaders (feeled, felt) the need to discuss the event with their congregation members.
7. Three days ago the Umpies (goed, went) to visit the Shorties.
8. Jimmy Baldino (grow, grew, grown) tomatoes in his backyard last summer.
9. You could have (get, got, gotten) better advice about the problem from Uncle John.
10. Have Moe and Kate (chose, choose, chosen) their favorite tunes for the drive to the Cape?
11. It had just (begin, began, begun) to rain when the horses were leaving the barn.
12. Patsy (find, finded, found) an interesting way to repair this float.
13. Jack (fall, fell, fallen) asleep listening to his oldies.
14. Now I (begin, begun) to see exactly how she solved the mystery.
15. Murphy (bring, brang, brung, brought) the scrap of food to his cage.

Regular verbs form their past and past participle forms by adding -d or -ed to the verb's present tense. Thus, like becomes liked, and walk becomes walked. Irregular verbs form their past and past participle forms differently. The present tense rise becomes rose in its past-tense form and risen in its past participle form. The present tense verb sit becomes sat in both its past and past participle forms.

Activity 2- Working With Irregular Verbs

Underline the correct form of the irregular verbs that appear in Irregular Verbs (Part Two).

1. I (wear, wore, worn) these running shoes whenever I go jogging.
2. Cousin Moe (write, wrote, written) a beautiful piece about her second-grade students.
3. Mervin (lose, loosed, lost) weight.
4. Could Ms. Short have (sing, sang, sung) any more beautifully than she did at that ceremony?
5. The court officer (sent, sended) a note about the jury to the judge.
6. Remember that the police officers had already (speak, spoke, spoken) to us about this situation.
7. The small group of musicians had (sat, sit) on this bench during their break.
8. Please (take, taken, took) these plates over to the machine.
9. My shirt (shrank, shrinked, shrunk) in the dryer last night.
10. Jason (telled, told) that joke to us last Monday.
11. Could Kayla have (write, wrote, written) that essay as quickly as she did?
12. The tall boy (swam, swimmed, swum) twenty laps in the pool this morning.
13. This cloth has been (teared, tore, torn) up by the hungry dog.
14. With that amazing catch, the skilled receiver (win, winned, won) the game for her team.
15. Wellington had (ran, run) for that office two years ago.

Activity 3- Irregular Verbs in Context

Use the correct form of each of the irregular verbs within the parentheses. Write your answer in the blank space in the sentence.

1. (win) Has this team ever _______ fewer than ten games in a season?
2. (shrink) The sweater _______ over the years that I have owned it.
3. (lead) This clue _______ the detectives to more important clues in the case.
4. (draw) The maid had _______ the shades in the den.
5. (freeze) I nearly _______ waiting for the bus to come to my stop this morning.
6. (catch) Yesterday, the fisherman _______ three snappers.
7. (bring) Have you _______ your camera with you, Mitch?
8. (begin) When the game _______, both teams played hard.
9. (give) Neither of the presidents _______ much indication of what they had discussed at that important meeting.
10. (ride) We all _______ in the van to the mall.
11. (give) None of us had been _______ explicit instructions on how to get to the office.
12. (rise) The balloon had _______ in no time.
13. (sink) The fishing line _______ quickly after I released the reel's lock.
14. (drive) My mom had _______ us to this museum many times.
15. (send) The misbehaving student was _______ to the principal's office.

Activity 4- Correct or Incorrect?

If the underlined irregular verb is used correctly, do nothing. If the underlined irregular verb is used incorrectly, cross it out and write the correct verb form on the line after the sentence.

1. The police officer catched the thief quite easily. ______
2. My family had eaten at this restaurant several times before last night. ______
3. The truck sunk into the mud in a few seconds. ______
4. The track star could not have ran faster than she did at that meet. ______
5. We lost our way on those dimly lit roads as we drove to Uncle Arnold's cabin. ______
6. Shakespeare had wrote many memorable tragedies. ______
7. A representative from the railroad spoke to the passengers about the proposed plan. ______
8. Neil keeped his cool during these tense moments in the subway. ______
9. Loretta done all her work by herself. ______
10. The powerful dog broke free from her leash and ran quickly down the street. ______
11. I had gave her these peaches for a snack. ______
12. Our candidate had won the election by a landslide that year. ______
13. The proud grandparents had lain awake the night that their grandson was accepted into that prestigious college. ______
14. Wendy and her friends had ridden on that scary roller coaster ride last summer. ______
15. That rock star had sang in many different European cities during her career. ______

Activity 5- Helping Out With Irregular Verbs

This writer can use your help with irregular verbs (and other writing skills). The student has made many irregular verb errors. Cross out each incorrect irregular verb, and write its correct form above it. For this activity, you do not need to make any other changes.

Last summer, we gone to the Rocky Mountains for our family vacation. On the way there, we sung many songs and keeped a log of our journey. After Dad had drove three hundred miles on that first day, Mom and he decided to stop in a hotel for the afternoon and night. The hotel have an indoor swimming pool. Since last year’s bathing suit had not teared or loosed its color, I weared it in the hotel’s pool where my brother and I swimmed for a while. Mom brung us some snacks and drinks that we ated and drunked by the pool. I also buyed some ice cream bars that I had saw in the snack shop. Later that evening, after all of us eaten a good dinner, we goed to our rooms to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Answers

Activity 1- Working with Irregular Verbs from Part One

1. came
2. drawn
3. cost
4. drunk
5. held
6. felt
7. went
8. grew
9. gotten
10. chosen
11. begun
12. found
13. fell
14. begin
15. brought

Activity 2- Working with Irregular Verbs from Part Two

1. wear
2. wrote
3. lost
4. sung
5. sent
6. spoken
7. sat
8. take
9. shrank
10. told
11. written
12. swam
13. torn
14. won
15. run

Activity 3- Irregular Verbs in Context

1. won
2. shrank
3. led
4. drawn
5. froze
6. caught
7. brought
8. began
9. gave
10. rode
11. given
12. risen
13. sank
14. driven
15. sent

Activity 4- Correct or Incorrect?

1. caught

3. sank
4. run

6. written

8. kept
9. did

11. given
12. ung

The verbs in numbers 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, and 14 are correct.

Activity 5- Helping Out with Irregular Verbs

(This paragraph shows the correct irregular verbs. Other writing errors may still be present.)

Last summer, we went to the Rocky Mountains for our family vacation. On the way there, we sang many songs and kept a log of our journey. After Dad had driven three hundred miles on that first day, Mom and he decided to stop in a hotel for the afternoon and night. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool. Since last year's bathing suit had not torn or lost its color, I wore it in the hotel's pool where my brother and I swam for a while. Mom brought us some snacks and drinks that we ate and drank by the pool. I also bought some ice cream bars that I had seen in the snack shop. Later that evening, after all of us ate a good dinner, we went to our rooms to enjoy a good night's sleep

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