Mixed Verbs

Mixed Verbs :



All Verbs which form the Past Tense by changing (not merely shortening) the inside vowel and do not add a final D or T are Strong Verbs.

GROUP : 1

Final N or EN retained in Past Participle.

Born is used only in the passive.
We write….He was born in 1920.
But…She has borne three children.

Past Tense and Past Participle of BID is always BID when the reference is to bidding at an auction sale.

Present Tense…Past Tense…Past Participle

1. Arise…arose…arisen
2. Bear (produce)…bore…born
3. Bear (produce)…bore…borne
4. Bear (carry)…bore…borne
5. Beget…begot…begotten
6. Beget…begot…begot
7. Bid …bade & bid…bidden & bid
8. Bite…bit…bitten & bit
9. Bind…bound…bounden & bound
10. Blow…blew…blown
11. Break…broke…broken
12. Chide…chid… chidden & chid
13. Choose…chose… chosen
14. Draw…drew… drawn
15. Drink…drank…. drunken & drunk
16. Drive…drove… driven
17. Eat…ate…eaten
18. Fall…fell…fallen
19. Fly…flew…flown
20. Forbear…forbore…forborne
21. Forget…forgot…forgotten
22. Forsake…forsook…forsaken
23. Freeze…froze…frozen
24. Get…got…gotten & got
25. Give… gave…given
26. Go…went…gone
27. Grow…grew…grown
28. Hide…hid…hidden & hid
29. Know…knew…known
30. Lie…lay…lain
31. Ride…rode…ridden
32. Rise…rose…risen
33. See…saw…seen
34. Shake…shook…shaken
35. Shrink…shrank…shrunken & shrunk
36. Sink…sank…sunken & sunk
37. Slay…slew…Slain
38. Smite…smote…smitten & smit
39. spoken…Speak…spoke
40. stolen…Steal…stole
41. stridden…Stride…strode
42. Strike…struck…stricken & struck
43. Strive…strove…striven
44. Swear…swore…sworn
45. Take…took…taken
46. Tear…tore…torn
47. Throw…threw…thrown
48. Tread…trod…trodden & trod
49. Wear…wore…worn
50. Weave…wove…woven
51. Write…wrote…written

These Participles (bounden, drunken, gotten, shrunken, sunken and stricken) are now chiefly used as Verbal Adjectives and not as parts of some Tense.

Verbal Adjective

1. Our bounden duty
2. A drunken man
3. A sunken ship
4. A stricken deer
5. The shrunken stream
6. Ill-gotten wealth

Part of some Tense

1. He was bound by his promise.
2. He had drunk too much wine.
3. The ship had sunk under the water.
4. The deer was struck with an arrow.
5. The stream has shrunk in its bed.
6. He has got wealth by ill means.

GROUP : 2

Final N or EN is lost in Past Participle.

Present Tense…Past Tense…Past Participle

1. Abide…abode…abode
2. Awake…awoke…awoke
3. Become…became…become
4. Begin…began…begun
5. Behold…beheld…beheld & beholden
6. Cling…clung…clung
7. Come…came…come
8. Dig…dug…dug
9. Fight…fought…fought
10. Find…found…found
11. Fling…flung…flung
12. Grind…ground…ground
13. Hold…held…held
14. Ring… rang…rung
15. Run…ran…run
16. Shine…shone…shone
17. Sing…sang…sung
18. Sling…slung…slung
19. Slink…slunk…slunk
20. Spin…spun…spun
21. Spring…sprang…sprung
22. Stand…stood…stood
23. Stick…stuck…stuck
24. Sting…stung…stung
25. Stink…stank…stunk
26. String…strung…strung
27. Swim…swam…swum
28. Swing…swung…swung
29. Win…won…won
30. Wind…wound…wound
31. Wring…wrung…wrung

But the Past Participle of ABIDE is ABIDED. (He has always abided by his word.) Beholden means indebted.

The list of Mixed Verbs given under Group : 3 exemplifies the tendency of Strong Verbs to become Weak.

GROUP : 3 - Mixed Verbs

Such Verbs are partly Strong and partly Weak :

Present Tense…Past Tense… Past Participle

1. Beat…beat…beaten
2. Cleave (split)… clove & cleft… cloven & cleft
3. Climb…climbed… climbed
4. Crow…crew & crowed… crowed
5. Do… did (irregular)… done
6. Grave… graved… graven & graved
7. Hang… hung & hanged… hung & hanged
8. Hew… hewed… hewn
9. Lade… laded… laden
10. Melt…melted… molten & melted
11. Mow…mowed…mown
12. Prove…proved…proved
13. Rot …rotted… rotten & rotted
14. Saw…sawed…sawn
15. Seethe…seethed…sodden & seethed
16. Sew…sewed…sewn
17. Shape…shaped…shaped
18. Shave…shaved…shaved & shaven
19. Shear…sheared…shorn & sheared
20. Show…showed…shown
21. Sow…sowed…sown
22. Strew…strewed…strewn
23. Swell…swelled…swollen
24. Thrive…throve & thrived…thriven & thrived
25. Wash…washed…washed
26. Writhe…writhed…writhed

These Participles (graven, molten, rotten, sodden and shorn) are now chiefly used as Verbal Adjectives and not as parts of some Tense.

Verbal Adjective

1. A graven image
2. Molten metal
3. A rotten plank
4. The sodden flesh
5. A shorn lamb
6. A well-sewn garment
7. A clean-shaven face
8. A hewn log

Part of some Tense

1. The image was engraved with letters.
2. The metal was melted with heat.
3. The plank was rotted by water.
4. The flesh was seethed in hot water.
5. The lamb was sheared today.
6. I have sewed or sewn it.
7. He had shaved.
8. The log is hewed or hewn.

The Intransitive Verb is conjugated in the Strong form only. The Transitive Verb is conjugated in both forms. HANGED means killed by hanging. (The man was hanged.) HUNG is used in a general sense. (He hung up his coat.)

RELATED PAGES :

1. The Verb
   
2. The Auxiliary Verbs
   
3. Subject-Verb Agreement - 1
   
4. Subject-Verb Agreement - 2
   
5. The English Verb
   
6. Basic Form of The Verb
   
7. Principal Parts of A Verb
   
8. Non-finite Form of The Verb
   
9. The Intensive Forms of English Verbs
   
10. Verbal Idioms
    
11. Confusing Verbs
    
12. Agreement of The Verb with The Subject
    
13. Sentences with Agreement of The Verb with The Subject
    
14. Two Auxiliaries with One Principal Verb
    
15. One Auxiliary with Two Principal Verbs
    
16. Words Used as Verbs
    
17. Intransitive Verb of Complete Predication
    
18. Intransitive Verb of Incomplete Predication
    
19. Defective Verbs
    
20. Strong Verbs
    
21. Tests of A Strong Verb
    
22. Wholly Strong Strong Verbs
    
23. Partly Strong Strong Verbs
    
24. List of Strong Verbs
    
25. Weak Verbs
    
26. Tests of A Weak Verb
    
27. List of Weak Verbs
    
28. Mixed Verbs
    
29. Strong Verbs Becoming Partly Weak Verbs
    

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