The present tense of regular verbs is formed as follows: SINGULAR PLURAL first person (I/we) base form (believe) base form (believe) second person (you) base form (believe) base form (believe) third person (he/she/it, they) base form + -s/-es (believes) base form (believe) 3. Present participle: the verb form that describes what is happening now. It ends in -ing and is accom- panied by a helping verb such as is. Jessica is doing a difficult yoga pose. Stocks ar e falling again in response to another corporate scandal. NOTE: Words that end in -ing don’t always function as verbs. Sometimes they act as nouns and are called gerunds. They can also function as adjectives (called participial phrases). Present participle (verb): He is lo ading the boxes into the car. Gerund (noun): This parking area is for lo ading only. Participial phrase (adjective): The lo ading dock is littered with paper. (You will learn more about gerunds later in this section.) 4. Past tense: the verb form that expresses what happened in the past. It snowed yesterday in the mountains. I f elt better after I stretched and did some deep breathing. 5. Past participle: the verb form that describes an action that happened in the past and is used with a helping verb, such as has, have, or had. It has not snowed all winter. I ha ve waited as long as I can. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 59 REGULAR VERBS Most English verbs are “regular”—they follow a standard set of rules for forming the present participle, past tense, and past participle. ■ The present participle is formed by adding -ing. ■ The past and past participle are formed by adding -ed. • If the verb ends with the letter e, just add d. • If the verb ends with the letter y, for the past tense, change the y to an i and add –ed. Here are some examples: PRESENT PRESENT PARTICIPLE PAST PAST PARTICIPLE call calling called called dream dreaming dreamed dreamed grasp grasping grasped grasped manage managing managed managed promise promising promised promised select selecting selected selected try trying tried tried A handful of English verbs have the same present, past, and past participle form. Here is a partial list of those verbs and several examples: SAME PRESENT, PAST, AND PAST PARTICIPLE FORM bet hit set bid hurt shut burst put spread cost quit upset cut read Present: I hit that bump in the road today. Past: I hit that bump in the road yesterday, too. Past participle: I’ve hit that bump in the road almost every day this week. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 60 Present: Please set the table for dinner. Past: He set the table for dinner. Past participle: He had already set the table for dinner. IRREGULAR VERBS About 150 English verbs are irregular; that is, they do not follow the standard rules for changing tense. We can divide these irregular verbs into three categories: ■ irregular verbs with the same past and past participle forms ■ irregular verbs with three distinct forms ■ irregular verbs with the same present and past participle forms The table below lists the most common irregular verbs. PRESENT PAST PAST PARTICIPLE S AME PAST AND PAST PARTICIPLE FORMS bite bit bit dig dug dug bleed bled bled hear heard heard hold held held light lit lit meet met met pay paid paid say said said sell sold sold tell told told shine shone shone shoot shot shot sit sat sat spin spun spun – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 61 PRESENT PAST PAST PARTICIPLE SAME PAST AND PAST PARTICIPLE FORMS spit spat spat swear swore swore tear tore tore creep crept crept deal dealt dealt keep kept kept kneel knelt knelt leave left left mean meant meant send sent sent sleep slept slept spend spent spent bring brought brought buy bought bought catch caught caught fight fought fought teach taught taught think thought thought feed fed fed flee fled fled find found found grind ground ground – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 62 PRESENT PAST PAST PARTICIPLE THREE DISTINCT FORMS begin began begun ring rang rung sing sang sung spring sprang sprung swim swam swum do did done go went gone am was been is was been see saw seen drink drank drunk shrink shrank shrunk sink sank sunk stink stank stunk swear swore sworn tear tore torn wear wore worn blow blew blown draw drew drawn fly flew flown grow grew grown know knew known throw threw thrown drive drove driven – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 63 PRESENT PAST PAST PARTICIPLE THREE DISTINCT FORMS strive strove striven choose chose chosen rise rose risen break broke broken speak spoke spoken fall fell fallen shake shook shaken take took taken forget forgot forgotten get got gotten give gave given forgive forgave forgiven forsake forsook forsaken hide hid hidden ride rode ridden write wrote written freeze froze frozen steal stole stolen SAME PRESENT AND PAST PARTICIPLE FORMS come came come overcome overcame overcome run ran run – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 64 . brought buy bought bought catch caught caught fight fought fought teach taught taught think thought thought feed fed fed flee fled fled find found found grind ground ground – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 62 PRESENT. too. Past participle: I’ve hit that bump in the road almost every day this week. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 60 Present: Please set the table for dinner. Past: He set the table for dinner. Past. sold tell told told shine shone shone shoot shot shot sit sat sat spin spun spun – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 61 PRESENT PAST PAST PARTICIPLE SAME PAST AND PAST PARTICIPLE FORMS spit spat spat swear