Linguistics 220/222
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Irregular Verb Classes
Linguistics 220/222
/323
There are two main classes of verbs in English: strong and
weak. 'Strong' is a historical terms that refers to the of verbs in which
the past tense is marked by a change in the base vowel and the non-progressive
pariticple by the suffix '-n' oir -'-en', or no ending. The base vowels
may be the saem as the present tnese stem or by a different vowel: write,
wrote, written; sing, sang, sung. Go to: strong
verbs.
The second major class, the weak stems, are marked in the past tense and the non-progressive particple by te same ending. The ending maya be '-ed', which is the default ending. The remaining two endings are '-d' and '-t'. In the irrregular forms there often a change in the stem vowel: hold,held,held; dream, dreamt, dreamt. Go to: weak verbs in '-d' and weak verbs formed with -t.
There is one verb that is irregular and weak in the past tense, but strong in the the non-progressive participle: do, did, done. A few verbs are strong in the past tense, but weak regular in the non-progressive participle. These verbs are histroically weak: dive, dove, dived; drag, drug, dragged. Go to: irregular strong verbs.
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