Past Tense of Irregular Verbs

How to properly pronounce endings

Pronunciation Lesson

How to properly pronounce “ed” endings of past tense verbs

See chart below for direction on how to properly pronounce the “ed” endings of the past tense, when the simple form of the verb ends in anything EXCEPT a “D” or “T” sound.***   Focus on terminal sounds, not spelling, only!

Pronounce as “T” sound Pronounce as “D” sound
Ending in: F Staffed Ending in: B rubbed
K walked G begged
P stopped i (Y) studied
S passed L spilled
Ch watched M trimmed
Sh washed N cleaned
X fixed R feared
Th breathed
V received
W showed
Z squeezed, posed

***When the simple form of the verb DOES end in a “D” or “T” OR a “D” or “T” sound (ex:  need, want, decide, invite), then you must pronounce the “ed” ending as an ADDITIONAL SYLLABLE!!  You would pronounce these as “need-ed”, “want-ed”, “de-cid-ed”, “in-vit-ed”.

Sentence Reduction Exercises

Examples of cleaning up and simplifying sentences.

  1. Teachers should be strongly aligned with student-centered and student-directed learning that embraces exploration, discovery, experiential learning, and the production of academically rigorous products.
  2. Other events include Sunday Masses celebrated in the native languages of various ethnic communities and the Youth Leadership Conference and Heritage month celebrated by Polish American Catholics.
  3. We welcome you as collaborators in our outreach to ensure that new immigrants have the necessary pastoral support as they settle in America, their new home, and we look forward to seeing you at our events!
  4. Another point not recognized in the era of literary criticism as it would be today is that we must conceive of the existence of a living, free tradition of sayings of Jesus, out of which the gospels have come.
  5. Proponents of living roofs argue that they have met most, if not all, of the technical challenges involved in grafting a biological layer onto the top of buildings of almost any scale.
  6. To this day, such accusations damage United States-Egypt relations, providing fuel for the prosecution of Egyptians who have worked with the United States and complicating cooperation on counterterrorism and counter-radicalization.
  7. Helping people navigate the steps to better health is the goal of Philips’ personal health programs, which include the watch, blood pressure monitors, a scale and an ear thermometer, all of which connect wirelessly to the Health Suite health app.
  8. Prism Capital Partners, a real estate development firm, signed the purchase and sale agreement to transfer all 116 acres of the former Roche North American Pharmaceuticals headquarters by September 30.
  9. We invite you to celebrate and learn more about the rich and diverse cultures within the Catholic Church by participating in our programs, conferences, workshops and seminars, and by joining the various Catholic national organizations and support groups of your community.
  10. When the procession starts, please keep all eyes centered on the altar and do not speak to anyone, even in the lowest tone of voice.

Make or Do?

A Simple Guide to Preserve Your Sanity!

It can be hard to decide when to use “make” or “do” in English.  Here’s some help:

  1. We use “make” when we create or construct something. For example:
    • She made a cake.
    • I’ve made us some coffee.
    • Did you really make those trousers?

     

  2. We use “do” for general activities. In this case, ‘do’ is often used with ‘something’, ‘nothing’, ‘anything’ or ‘everything’.   For example:
    • What did you do on the weekend?
    • I didn’t do anything yesterday.
    • She’s fed up with doing everything herself. She needs some help.
    • Are you doing anything interesting during the holidays?

    NOTE: ‘What do you do?’ means ‘what’s your job?’

  3. There are many, many fixed expressions with ‘make’ and ‘do’. They are idiomatic and don’t really follow any logical rules, so you have to learn them.