Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

Staying regular
Verbosity about verbs: The big blunders

IRREGULAR VERBS

Since I travel frequently, I often have to drive a rental car in a strange city. When I grab a map and notice that the city forefathers had the good sense to lay out the streets in a pattern, I’m always grateful. For example, Washington, D.C., is easy to navigate. The numbered streets run north and south, and the lettered/named avenues flow east and west. It’s a logical, if not exactly creative, pattern.

Whether we’re pushing a cart down the grocery aisle, reviewing a Web site, or hanging wallpaper, patterns feel comfortable.

For the most part, verb patterns strike us the same way. We get used to them, and the vast majority of them roll off the tongue with ease:

I run. You run. Bill runs. We run. They run.

I talk. You talk. Bill talks. We talk. They talk.

I write checks. You write checks. She writes checks. We write checks. They write checks.

If you’re talking in the past tense, the pattern is to add an —ed to the verb. For example: hire, hired; cover, covered; interview, interviewed; chew, chewed; jump, jumped; approve, approved.

I wrecked my car. You wrecked your car. Kilpatrick wrecked his car. We wrecked our car. They wrecked their car.

I identified the house. You identified the house. Kilpatrick identified the house. We identified the house. They identified the house.

I called the number. You called the number. Ziggy called the number. We called the number. They called the number.

But some verbs cause problems because they break the pattern—just like the city streets that branch off at a angle, change names three times without ever making a turn, or come to a dead end without warning.

Have you ever heard a four-year-old trying to follow the verb pattern with new vocabulary: “I buyed candy with my dollar” or “I runned home because that big dog was chasing me.” They’re following the pattern of adding an —ed, but those verbs don’t follow the pattern. Instead, they’re an exception to the rule.

Some common irregular verbs are listed in the chart below. The last four verbs in the chart are the most common irregular verbs, and some very smart people have difficulty remembering them: do, go, come, and see. (Yes, I agree—they’re odd, weird, illogical, out of sync, fouled up. Scream at the washing machine or kick a punching bag. Just don’t blame me.)

Memory tip

You’ll need to memorize these irregular verbs through use. For do, go, come, and see, refer to the next four chapters for specific memory aids.