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Past
Participle

Presentation / Objective

In this topic, you will identify and practice the past participle of both regular and irregular verbs. It will help you remember and use them with other tenses.


Have you ever asked yourself what would have happened if America hadn’t been discovered? Crazy, isn’t it?

Objective

By the end of this topic:
• You will use the past participle through the rules of regular and irregular verbs, to express actions in past and hypothetical situations.


Past participle

If only I had studied English before, I would have already identified where to use these verbs …

The past participle is used in specific tenses like:

1. Perfect tenses: present, past or future.
2. Passive voice.
3. Wishes and unreal past.
4. Conditional type 3

Some examples are:
1. Perfect tense (present): I haven’t visited my grandma lately.
2. Passive voice: This book was written hundreds of years ago.
3. Unreal past: If only I had listened to my mom.
4. Third conditional: I wouldn’t have called you if I had known you’d be busy.

The past participle and simple past are formed by adding -ed, at the end of regular verbs. Follow these rules, when adding -ed ending:

1. If the verb ends in “e”, just add “-d”:
dance → danced
2. If the verb follows the pattern consonant + vowel + consonant, double the last consonant and then add “-ed”:
stop → stopped
3. If the verb ends in “-y” preceded by a consonant, change “-y” for “-i”, then add “-ed”:
try → tried
4. For the rest of the verbs, simply add “-ed”:
play → played
jump → jumped
paint → painted





Remember the importance of proper pronunciation of past tense of regular verbs. The way we pronounce the ending “-ed” will depend on the last consonant sound of the base form of the verb. Look at the following chart, listen to pronunciation and practice.

/t/

If the base form of the verb ends in p, k, f, g, h, sh, ch, ss, c, x, s, z, g the ending -“-ed” sounds like /t/. Listen and repeat the words.


fix ➜ fixed
wash ➜ washed
dance ➜ danced
match ➜ matched
laugh ➜ laughed
ask ➜ asked

bless ➜ blessed
stuff ➜ stuffed
use ➜ used
blaze ➜ blazed
encourage ➜ encouraged

*Notice, letter “e” is silent.


/d/

If the base form of the verb ends in l, n, r, v, b, m, w the ending “-ed” sounds like /d/. Listen and repeat the words.

call ➜ called
clean ➜ cleaned
care ➜ cared
move ➜ moved
climb ➜ climbed
alarm ➜ alarmed
snow ➜ snowed

*Letter “e” is silent.


/id/

When the base form of the verbs ends in t or d. The past tense is pronounced /id/. Listen and repeat the words.

waste ➜ wasted
paint ➜ painted
need ➜ needed
sound ➜sounded

*It’s the only case where the “e” is pronounced.

Piece of cake? Not so fast, we also have irregular verbs.

These verbs do not follow rules, so they are called “Irregular” verbs. Both past tense and past participle change their spelling when they are conjugated. Would you like some examples?
1. Buy → bought
2. Drive → driven
3. Eat → eaten
4. Run → run
5. Catch → caught

There is no rule to form the past participle of irregular verbs. Some of them change entirely, others only change a letter, and others do not change. Then, what can we do? You can find patterns in some verbs, but it might be best to learn them by heart.

Here are some of the most common irregular verbs in past participle. Go over them as many times as necessary so you don't forget them.

Click on each of the letters to see the irregular verbs that start with the same letter. It is essential that you listen to their pronunciation in past participle.

You can also download and save the list “Irregular Verbs” in your computer. This will help you to do your activities.
Now it is time for you to practice by answering the following activities.

Reading

Activity 1

Have you ever heard of Antonio Meucci?

How would history have changed if Meucci had been recognised as the inventor of the telephone? You are going to read the biography of Antonio Meucci. After reading, check whether the statements are True or False.

Listening

Activity 2

Great distances that became short…

In the English class, students are talking about technology and its updates.

Listen to a teacher talking about how modern telephones impact modern lives. After hearing the audio, complete the text writing the verbs that are missing.

To hear audio click here




Writing

Activity 3

My Life without my mobile…

Have you asked yourself how your life would have been if you hadn’t bought a mobile phone? Think about how things would be different in your life if you hadn’t had bought a mobile phone.

Write a paragraph describing how you think your life would have been in this situation. Make sure you use verbs in past participle. Look at the example so you can have an idea of the text you have to write.

My life without my iPhone

When I got my first mobile phone, I thought it was not necessary. I didn’t even know how to take pictures with it. Later on, I got myself an iPhone, and I can’t think of a day without it. If I hadn’t bought my iPhone, I would have missed a lot of beautiful moments with its fantastic camera. Also, I would’ve lost tons of fun hours with game apps. That makes life easier when one is waiting in a queue. So, my life would have been so dull and miserable, If I hadn't had my iPhone.

 

Your text must have the items indicated in the checklist. Write your paper and check the list to see if your writing is correct.

Speaking

Activity 4

Pronouncing the past participle correctly

The past participle is a verb that lets us communicate previous actions or describe hypothetical or unreal situations. To form it, it is necessary to check and identify whether the verb is regular or irregular.

Based on what we have explored on this topic, do the following activity. It is divided into the following two sections:

Part 1. Regular verbs

Review the pronunciation chart of regular verbs. Look at the following verbs. Record yourself pronouncing them.

loved Washed Rested
Mailed Cooked Afforded
Used Asked Painted
Answered Fixed Waited
Saved Watched Recorded

Part 2. Irregular verbs

Listen to the pronunciation of the following sentences. Then read them and record yourself.

To hear audio click here


1. If I hadn’t had a mobile phone, I would have spent more time with my friends.
2. Internet wouldn’t have been known if North American militia hadn’t created it.
3. Hitler would have become an artist if he hadn’t felt hate against the Jews.

Activity 5

What would have happened if…

Imagine you are allowed to travel through time and change a historic world event. Tape yourself talking about how the world would be after you changed the past. Example:

I travelled through time and changed World War II.
If the USA government hadn’t intercepted Nazi Germany’s alliance request, Mexico would have recovered the territory which now belongs to the USA …


Record your story. Listen to your audio and check the points contained in the rubrics.

Example



Self-assessment

The Past participle of the verbs

In English, you have regular and irregular verbs that change in the past.

Regular verbs, follow some rules allow you to form the simple past and the past participle. Irregular verbs are more complicated; they do not follow any rule. You could probably find a pattern for some of the verbs. However, it is not always the same, which means you have to memorise them.

So, do the following activity.

Drag the verb in past participle to the corresponding verbs in the left. In case it is incorrect it will go back to its place.

Time Traveling: What I have seen

You found a letter from a time traveller. Read the letter and choose the correct form of the verbs to complete it.

Choose a verb from the box and drag it to the correct space to complete the letter. Don’t forget to check your score at the end of the activity.

References

Complementary

• Murphy, R. (2012), English grammar in use fourth edition. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press.
• Mitchel, H. (2014), New Destinations Intermediate B1, Student’s book. U.S.A.: MM publications.
• Saslow, J. , (2015), Top Notch 3, Third Edition. Pearson Education.