regular one. The form is unpredictable. As Kam Chuan Aik and Kam Kai Hui stated in their book Longman Dictionary of Grammar and Usage
that “irregular verbs have unpredictable past tense and past participle form”.
2
Sometimes the forms are different, but some other times they are the same. Thus, people need extra attention to
master it.
1. Definition of Irregular Verb
“Irregular verb is the verb which is not ended by -ed at the end”.
3
Almost all verbs which come to the irregular verb totally change from the basic form. However,
there are also many irregular verbs which have the same form on their three principal parts.
Dra. Mun. Fika stated in her book Complete English Grammar “Irregular
verb is a form of simple past tense and past participle verb that change irregularly because it has its own rule
”.
4
There are more than 200 main verbs in English that are irregular.
5
Unlike the regular verbs which are added by -ed at the end, the past tense and past participle
form of irregular verbs cannot be predicted. The irregular verbs totally change from their basic form. However, there are some irregular verbs which have the same form
on their three principal parts. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that irregular verb is a kind
of verb which has unpredictable form on its three principal parts. Sometimes it has
2
Kim Chuan Aik and Kim Kai Hui, Longman Dictionary of Grammar and Usage. Singapore: Addison Wesley Longman Singapore Pte Ltd, 1999. p.321.
3
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentince Hall, Inc., 1989. p. 17.
4
Dra. Mun. Fika. et all, Complete English Grammar :Tata Bahasa Inggris Lengkap. Surabaya: Apollo, 1991. p. 16.
5
Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, A Communicative Grammar of English: Third Edition. England: Pearson Education Limited, 2002. p.300.
the same form, but sometimes it is different.
2. Types of Irregular Verb
In order to master irregular verb, first, the English learner must know about its principal parts. There are mainly three parts of irregular verb that must be considered,
and they are: the simple or base form or verb 1, the simple past tense form or verb 2, and the past participle form or verb 3.
6
According to Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik in their book A Communicative Grammar of English, there are three main types of irregular verb that can be
distinguished: 1.
Irregular verb which has the same or identical form in all three principal parts the base form, the past tense form, and the past participle form.
Example:
Base form Past tense
Past participle
Cut Cut
Cut Put
Put Put
Read Read
Read Shut
Shut Shut
2. Irregular verb in which two parts are exactly the same.
Example:
Base form Past tense
Past participle
Spend Spent
Spent Come
Came Come
Bring Brought
Brought Tell
Told Told
3. Irregular verb which is totally different on its three-forms.
Example:
Base form Past tense
Past participle
6
Marcella Frank, Modern English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentince-Hall, Inc., 1972. p. 61.
Eat Ate
Eaten See
Saw Seen
Write Wrote
Written Give
Gave Given
7
Furthermore, Marcella Frank classified the types of irregular verb according to its irregularity. The classification is explained as follows:
Table 2.1 Classification of Irregular Verb by Marcella Frank
1. All Three Principal Parts are different
