Practice Makes Perfect

73
·19·
Some verbs do not use the -ed ending to express the past tense. These are irregular 
verbs, and they have unique past tense forms. They have the same form for all 
persons in the past tense, and they must be memorized.
19·1
EXERCISE
 Use your dictionary to find the meaning of the following irregular verbs 
and vocabulary words needed for this exercise before you begin. Write the 
words in your language in the space provided.
to meet 
→
met
to spin 
→
spun
to sing 
→
sang
to feed 
→
fed 
to ring 
→
rang
to fight 
→
fought
to throw 
→
threw
to light 
→
lit 
to run 
→
ran 
to eat 
→
ate 
to get 
→
got 
to fit 
→
fit 
to know 
→
knew
to read 
→
read 
to sell 
→
sold
fire 
Monday
too 
Tuesday
ice 
Wednesday 
guilty 
Thursday
crime 
Friday 
paper 
Saturday
noisy 
Sunday
parrot 
raise (n) 
middle evening
icing 
liquor store
The Simple Past Tense
with Irregular Verbs: 3
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 74
practice makes perfect Basic 
English
power failure concert
out of control phone
Rewrite the following sentences in the simple past tense using the irregular past tense form of the verb
in parentheses.
1. She (to sing) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the concert in Montreal. 
2. The house was dark because of the power failure, so we (to light) the candles. 
3. The car (to spin) out of control on the ice. 
4. I (to read) the newspaper in the evening on Saturday and Sunday. 
5. My son (to fight) at school on Tuesday and Thursday last week. 
6. The phone (to ring) in the middle of the night. 
7. I (to know) that he was guilty of the crime. 
8. She (to meet) Sara at the liquor store. 
9. Sorry, but I (to eat) all the icing on your cake when you went to the bathroom. 
10. I (to get) a big raise at work last month. 
11. We (to sell) our parrot because he was too noisy. 
12. Alexandre (to throw) the papers in the fire. 
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The Simple Past Tense with Irregular Verbs: 3