INTRODUCTION
Before we would treat the topic proper, let us first find out what a verb is. A verb is a word or group of words that expresses an action of the subject, an event or a state of thing. You can also explain it to be the grammatical center of the predicate which expresses an act, occurrence or mode of being. The verb is the powerhouse of every sentence, the mitochondria of every sentence. Remove the verb from a sentence and the sentence would have little or no meaning again. Examples of a verb are exist, eat, happen, bring, go, could, meet, authenticate, help, etc.
Before now, you should have known that in every sentence, there is a subject and predicate. A subject is the part of the sentence that performs the action in the sentence. On the other hand, the predicate is the part of the sentence containing the verb and object and it usually makes a statement about the subject of the verb. For instance, in the sentence: ‘Jerry went home,’ Jerry is the subject of the sentence and ‘went home’ is the predicate.
WHAT IS A REGULAR VERB?
A regular verb is a verb that has a simple way of forming its past tense and past participle. The regular verb forms its past tense and past participle through the addition of ‘ed’ to the verb. The table below contain some examples of regular verbs. Study it carefully.
| VERB(PRESENT TENSE) | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| Help | Helped | Helped |
| Calculate | Calculated | Calculated |
| Exhume | Exhumed | Exhumed |
| Work | Worked | Worked |
| Notice | Noticed | Noticed |
| Change | Changed | Changed |
| Educate | Educated | Educated |
| Open | Opened | Opened |
| Scorn | Scorned | Scorned |
| Miss | Missed | Missed |
| Check | Checked | Checked |
| Authorise | Authorised | Authorised |
| Adjudicate | Adjudicated | Adjudicated |
| Hate | Hated | Hated |
| Consume | Consumed | Consumed |
| Defend | Defended | Defended |
| Present | Presented | Presented |
| Enter | Entered | Entered |
| Look | Looked | Looked |
SENTENCE EXAMPLES USING REGULAR VERBS
Let’s take a look at some sentence examples using regular verbs. The regular verbs are underlined in the sentences below:
- The Police responded promptly and the criminal was apprehended.
- He studied hard for the examination and afterwards emerged with flying colours.
- Can you open the door for me, please?
- Who authorised the holding of this meeting?
- He was recently promoted at work.
- I defended my thesis before the board of directors last week.
- Charles missed the bus this morning; that’s why he came late.
WHAT IS AN IRREGULAR VERB?
Having known what a regular verb entails, let us now examine irregular verbs. An irregular verb is a verb that do not have a fixed, regular and consistent way used in forming the past tense and past participle. A regular verb can form its past tense and past participle using different forms. The table below gives examples of irregular verbs.
| VERB (PRESENT TENSE) | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| Cut | Cut | Cut |
| Swim | Swam | Swum |
| Bring | Brought | Brought |
| Hide | Hid | Hidden |
| Beat | Beat | Beaten |
| Hear | Heard | Heard |
| Come | Came | Come |
| Ride | Rode | Ridden |
| Do | Did | Done |
| Burst | Burst | Burst |
| Teach | Taught | Taught |
| Cast | Cast | Cast |
| Sing | Sang | Sung |
| Lay | Laid | Laid |
| Tell | Told | Told |
| Wake | Woke | Woken |
| Hit | Hit | Hit |
| Eat | Ate | Eaten |
| Read | Read | Read |
SENTENCE EXAMPLES USING IRREGULAR VERBS
Let’s make some sentence examples using the irregular verb forms. Pay attention to how the sentences are constructed. The irregular verbs in the sentences are underlined.
- Cut the vegetables, please.
- Give to God what belongs to God; also give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
- John ate all the food.
- Despite being told to cease fire, the trigger-happy soldier still shot the armed robber.
- When you hear the trumpet sound, lay down your arms.
- One cannot give what one does not have.
- Have you rode on a horse before?
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have learnt what a regular and irregular verb is, how they are formed and then how they are used in making sentences. There are many more examples of regular and irregular verbs as much as there are verbs in the English Language. What we did here serves as a guide to your understanding what a regular and irregular verb is. You can always use your English Dictionary to discover how various verbs form their past tense and past participle.