Irregular Verbs

Irregular Verbs Learning English can be a difficult task sometimes. Idioms can be many students  achilles heel whilst  adverbs can be  especially  difficult .  Today, we are going to look at another challenging topic- how to use irregular verbs in the past tense.  First, lets look at these videos which explain past irregular verb categories, making them  easier to remember. So get your popcorn ready, sit back and enjoy the videos.Grammar Videos: Irregular VerbsDid you get that? Easy, right? Lets see how well you understood  the video. Below Ive made a table of irregular verbs. Ive highlighted the 12 categories from the videos to make it easier for you to remember the different rules. Look at the examples, and then try to fill in the gaps with your answers.  Remember to write them in the comment section, and well respond!English Irregular Verb Exercise: Gap FillNow lets put those past irregular verbs into practice. Below Ive made 15 questions with the verb in parenthesis(). Go ahead and think of how we would change these to the past tense, remembering the rules we just learned together. Its an interesting story about an Olympic fencing medalist, and well watch a video about it after this activity. Write your answers in the comments section to show the world your English level!  When I _________(to qualify) for the Olympic team, the focus ___(to be) about me being the first Muslim woman in hijab to represent team USA at the Olympic games.I ______(to want) to challenge the narrative that Muslim women are meek and docile and oppressed.As a kid, I ______(to play) softball, I _____(to try) tennis, I ___(to run) track.My teammates ____(to wear) tank tops or  shorts, but my mom always ___(to have) to adjust the uniform so it would adhere to the tenants of my faith.  When I ___(to be) about 12 years old, my mom and I ____(to be) driving past a local high school, and we ___(to see) athletes that ___(to have) on long jackets, long pants, and they ___(to have) on these masks.  Thats whe n we __________(to discover) fencing.Once I ______(to find) fencing it ___(to be) the first time where I ______(to look) like my teammates, and that ___(to be) just this really gratifying experience for me.More English Gap Fill Exercises:As a young athlete, I really ______(to look) up to Serena and Venus.  They never _________(to conform) to what the tennis community ______(to want) them to be, and through their prowess, they ______(to force) society to accept them as they ____(to be).  That was something I ______(to want) for myself within fencing.When I _________(to qualify) for the Olympic team, my life immediately _______(to change).It ___nt (to be) until opening ceremonies that I ___(to be) overcome with emotion.I ____(to tell) her to bring home the gold!No one _______(to think) we would win a medal.  We ____(to be) underdogs.When it ________(to happen), Im like oh my god.From the time I ______(to walk) onto the podium to the time they ___(to put) the medal around my neck, l iterally just like complete disbelief.I ___(to meet) Serena and Venus in the Olympic Village.Im sure they _______(to think) I ___(to be) crazy, but I ____(to feel) like I ___(to have) to tell them in that moment how much they _____(to mean) to me growing up.Good work! That was the difficult part- now for the easy part! Lets see what this story was about and head to the  Olympics for some inspiration. Now, You can check your answers while you are listening.English Listening ExerciseWasnt that a great story? I hope you enjoyed it. So, if you still feel like you need more practice before we move onto the next section, I encourage you to read  this  blog post  from LOI English.English Verb Identification ExerciseFinally,  have a look at this short story:John awoke from his sleep, and bent forward to pick up his slippers to cover his cold feet. The wind blew fiercely outside, but he didn’t need to go to work because it was the weekend. He drank a hot cup of tea and fed his ginger cat, Toby. He then ate his breakfast while he read the newspaper. Something caught John’s eye, and he was shocked to see the front page of the newspaper had his face on it…..You guessed it. the story has some past irregular verbs in it. I can count 11 irregular verbs-can you spot them? Excellent work! You may have noticed that the story is incomplete. If you are feeling inspired after watching some great videos in this class, please go ahead and write how you think the story will end in the comment section- wed love to hear your ideas and give you some feedback. Try to use some of the past irregular verbs weve talked about. Furthermore, if your story is particularly good, you will find your name on the LOI English Past Irregular Verb Wall of Fame! So good luck, and get typing.Sign up  now for some great, interactive Skype English classes with LOI English.