- we can divide irregular verbs into 7 groups:
1) Past and past participle identical with t: burn, build, send
2) Past and past participle identical with t + vowel change: sleep, teach, lose
3) All forms identical: cut, put, set
4) Alteration of two vowels: win, bleed, read, meet, find
5) Alteration of three vowels: begin, drink, swim
6) Three different forms +n in past participle: drive, rise, break, hide, know
7) Past is regular, past participle +n: mow, show
TIPS HOW TO LEARN THE VERBS:
1) GROUP SIMILAR VERBS TOGETHER
- organize them into groups with similar patterns as shown above
Bring – brought – brought
Catch – caught – caught
Teach – taught – taught …the pronunciation is the same too [o:t]
Sing – sang -sung
Ring – rang – rung
Drink – drank - drunk
Swim – swam – swum
More examples: https://www.autoenglish.org/tenses/gr.verblist1.pdf
2) USE FLASHCARDS
- You can create your own paper ones or use applications on the phone
- Regular revising can help reinforce memory
3) SENTENCES
- Instead of memorising, use them in sentences, context helps
4) TEST YOURSELF WITH QUIZZES
5) DAILY PRACTICE
Aim to learn and use a set number of new verbs each week
6) REGULAR READING
- Read books, articles, and other materials in English
- Pay attention to the verbs in texts
7) WRITE
- It can be diary entries or short stories
8) CREATE MNEMONICS
Mnemonics = techniques or strategies consciously used to improve memory, they help us learn and recall information
e.g. I drank a tank of water. – it helps you remember that drink becomes drank
9) INTERACTIVE TOOLS
- Play games, do interactive exercise that make learning fun
10) MEMORISING
- The most common technique, which is not recommended that much, but it may
work for some students
- Just remember that it’s important to learn the right spelling as well as the
pronunciation
DO YOU HAVE ANY MNEMONICS THAT WORK? Share them with us in the comments below.
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