Verbs are an essential part of English Grammar because they help individuals fuse words into sentences to regularly converse about different circumstances that had taken place in their lives.
In English Grammar, a multitude of verbs are regular verbs. Even so, there are a significant number of irregular verbs too. On that account, individuals who learn and practice the language of English must acquaint themselves with the thorough knowledge of regular verbs and irregular verbs by familiarizing themselves with their past simple and past participle forms and observing the different or similar conjugation patterns, to not face any sort of difficulty while verbally communicating the formal language of English or composing well-formed English sentences.
Regular vs Irregular Verbs
The main difference between regular verbs and irregular verbs is that certain verbs whose past simple and past participle forms have an orderly or systematic conjugation pattern are called Regular Verbs whereas several verbs whose past simple and past participle tenses either remains the same or modifies completely without having to follow any conjugation patterns are known as Irregular verbs.
Comparison Table Between Regular and Irregular Verbs (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of comparison | Regular verbs | Irregular verbs |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Regular verbs are those verbs where the past simple and past participle of the verb ends with either a –ed or –d. For example: cook, cooked, cooked. | Irregular verbs are those verbs that do not have a specific formula to indicate them in its past simple and past participle. For example: cut, cut, cut or run, ran, run. |
| History | Regular verbs were found later in the English Language. | Verbs which were stemmed from the Old English were the irregular verbs. |
| Pattern | Regular verbs have the conjugation (a word which is utilized to associate sentences) pattern. | Unlike regular verbs, Irregular verbs are verbs which do not have to follow any systematic conjugation patterns. |
| Past simple and past participle forms | As they change forms, regular verbs don’t have to go through any crucial change in their simple past and past participle forms. | Irregular verbs may sometimes have a different or similar past simple and past participle form. |
| Majority | There are about 600 regular verbs. Hence, there is a majority of regular verbs. | As opposed to regular verbs, there are nearly 200 verbs that are irregular. Hence, there are not many irregular verbs when compared to regular. |
| Rules | Regular verbs follow their standard guidelines to create past simple or past participle. | Irregular verbs have their own set of rules when creating past simple. |
What are Regular Verbs?
Regular verbs are otherwise known as weak words as these verbs follow the standard principle of English Language by adding -ed or -d to the base of the word to create its past forms. For example: play, played, played.
General rules to follow when to use regular verbs
- When the base forms of regular verbs have a verb which ends with a vowel or a consonant, except for the vowel e, the past simple and past participle tenses of that verb ends with –ed.
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Look | looked | looked |
| Tattoo | tattooed | tattooed |
For example: She looked for her son at the shopping mall.
- Regular verbs having the same past simple and past participle when a verb ends with a consonant or a –y we replace the –y to an –i and add –ed at the end.
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Carry | carried | carried |
| Study | studied | studied |
For example: He studied till midnight.
- When the past simple and past participle tenses of regular verbs have a verb which ends with the vowel e, we use –d at the end of the verb.
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Shape | shaped | shaped |
| State | stating | stating |
For example: She was stating her facts to the judge.
What are Irregular Verbs?
Irregular verbs are those verbs that do not end with –ed or –d. They are also known as strong verbs. For example: break- breaks/broke/broken or eat- eats/ate/eaten. Sometimes the spelling of the word does not change but the pronunciation of the word changes let’s say for example read.
Irregular verbs are divided into four kinds:
- Verbs having the same past simple, past participle and base form
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Cut | cut | cut |
| Let | let | let |
For example: She let her friend’s crash at her place for the night.
- Certain base forms having similar past simple and past participle tenses.
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Make | made | made |
| Sell | sold | sold |
For example: She sold her car to her neighbor.
- Verbs having the same past participle and base form.
For example:
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Come | came | come |
| Run | ran | run |
For example: He ran after the burglar.
- Verbs having a different past simple, past participle and base form
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
| Speak | spoke | spoken |
| See | saw | seen |
For example: He saw a giraffe at the zoo today. He had seen a giraffe at the zoo today.
Main Differences Between Regular and Irregular Verbs
- Regular verbs refer to those verbs where the verb ends with –ed or –d. For example: look, looked, looked. Irregular verbs are those verbs that do not follow a particular technique to indicate them. For example: put, put, put.
- Regular verbs were not used in the Olden days since they were introduced quite recently in the English Language. Irregular verbs were introduced way before regular verbs and was derived from Old English.
- Regular verbs follow a fixed, regular, and a conjugation pattern. Irregular verbs do not follow a fixed, regular, and a conjugation pattern.
- Regular verbs have a fixed and similar form of the past simple and past participle. Irregular verbs from time to time have different or similar past simple or past participle.
- There are a majority of regular verbs they are said to be around 600 regular verbs. There are not many irregular verbs when compared to regular verbs. There are said to be around 200 irregular verbs.
- Regular verbs follow their general rues when related to the past simple and past participle by adding –ed or –d to the end of the verb. Irregular verbs have their own certain set of rules that are followed when it comes to past simple.
Conclusion
Verbs are crucial when it comes to the language of English because every articulation and piece of writing consists of verbs which constitute the condition, connecting words and actions. Furthermore, the two types of verbs based on their past and past participle tenses- i.e, regular verbs and irregular verbs, express who individuals are and what they usually do.
These two verbs have to be grasped with precision because both of these verbs are starkly dissimilar to each other. If the dissimilarities between the two verbs-regular verbs and irregular verbs are not mastered, an individual is considered incapable of efficiently grasping the language of English for it is an essential lesson to know the nuts and bolts of English Grammar.
The primary dissimilarity between the two-regular verbs and irregular verbs is that the present tenses of the regular verbs are quite alike to their past simple and past participle forms whereas when it comes to irregular verbs, the present tenses are not similar to their past simple and past participle forms.
The easiest way to master regular verbs is to efficiently follow the -ed or -d principle whereas for irregular verbs, the finest way to comprehend it is to either memorize or get acquainted with it.
This article gives us a clear insight into the implications of both the terms, the dissimilarities between both of them, why tenses are fundamental concerning mastering the two verbs, and also gives the audience a gist about the general rules to follow when you use these two verbs.
References
- https://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/fulltext/2004/03010/unified_inflectional_processing_of_regular_and.30.aspx
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hbm.20228