This exercise will give you practice in using the correct forms of irregular verbs. Before attempting the exercise, you may find it helpful to review these two articles:

Exercise

Complete each sentence below with the appropriate present, past, or past-participle form of the irregular verb in italics. When you're done, compare your answers with those below. Adobe photoshop cs6 free download windows 10.

1. Uncle Bert told me he had _____ (sell) his car for one dollar to a needy family.
2. No one answered when Freddie _____ (ring) the doorbell.
3. We nearly _____ (freeze) our toes off in a bedroom that wasn't heated.
4. Jessica suddenly remembered that a week ago she had _____ (lend) her brother a hundred dollars.
5. My sister left the birthday party early because she had _____ (drink) too much Coca Cola and made herself sick.
6. Last Sunday morning we discovered that the old boiler had _____ (spring) a leak.
7. John went to the blackboard and _____ (draw) a picture of the playground.
8. Don't call the world dirty because you _____ (forget) to clean your glasses.
9. Jobie had _____ (string) a clothesline from the top of the trailer to the woodshed eaves.
10. The group had _____ (begin) to split up into cliques and factions.
11. Buddy had never _____ (ride) in a limousine before.
12. 'Habit is a cable; we _____ (weave) a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.' (Horace Mann)
13. The paper reported that a major earthquake had _____ (shake) the interior of Mexico, killing thousands.

1. When we were five years old, Mike and I solemnly _____ (swear) to remain friends forever.
2. Moira had _____ (mean) to send her father a birthday card, but as usual she forgot.
3. The force of the shock from the explosion _____ (break) every window in the old school building.
4. Uncle Bert had _____ (go) to the post office at lunchtime but never came back.
5. Trying to be good Samaritans had _____ (bring) us nothing but trouble.
6. The student insisted that someone had _____ (steal) his sunglasses, but everyone could see that they were still sitting on top of his head.
7. Walt Disney claimed that he loved Mickey Mouse more than any woman he had ever _____ (know).

Answers

1. Uncle Bert told me he had sold his car for one dollar to a needy family.
2. No one answered when Freddie rang the doorbell.
3. We nearly froze our toes off in a bedroom that wasn't heated.
4. Jessica suddenly remembered that a week ago she had lent her brother a hundred dollars.
5. My sister left the birthday party early because she had drunk too much Coca Cola and made herself sick.
6. Last Sunday morning we discovered that the old boiler had sprung a leak.
7. John went to the blackboard and drew a picture of the playground.
8. Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses.
9. Jobie had strung a clothesline from the top of the trailer to the woodshed eaves.
10. The group had begun to split up into cliques and factions.
11. Buddy had never ridden in a limousine before.
12. 'Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.' (Horace Mann)
13. The paper reported that a major earthquake had shaken the interior of Mexico, killing thousands.
14. When we were five years old, Mike and I solemnly swore to remain friends forever.

1. Moira had meant to send her father a birthday card, but as usual she forgot.
2. The force of the shock from the explosion broke every window in the old school building.
3. Uncle Bert had gone to the post office at lunchtime but never came back.
4. Trying to be good Samaritans had brought us nothing but trouble.
5. The student insisted that someone had stolen his sunglasses, but everyone could see that they were still sitting on top of his head.
6. Walt Disney claimed that he loved Mickey Mouse more than any woman he had ever known

The verb 'to be' is one of the shortest and most important—yet oddest—verbs in the English language. It is an irregular verb; indeed, it is the only verb in English that completely changes form in every tense. The verb 'to be' is probably the most important verb in English. It can be used in simple statements such as:

• How are you?
• It is a beautiful day!
• I am from Italy.

The 'to be' verb can also be used to express complex thoughts: It is the verb at the very core of one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet, where the title character speaks the famous line: 'To be, or not to be.' ('Hamlet,' Act 3, Scene 1) Hamlet was asking whether it is better to be dead or alive, or in other words, whether to exist or not exist.

At heart, that's what the 'to be' verb connotes: a state of being or existence. It's a very common verb, but it's important to learn how to use it properly.

'To Be' as a Linking, Transitive, or Auxiliary Verb

Before conjugating the verb 'to be' in the present and past forms, it's important to understand what this verb does. The verb 'to be' is is a stative verb: It refers to the way things are—their appearance, state of being, and even their smell. 'To be' or 'be' can be a linking verb: It joins the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase that tells something about the subject, such as in these examples:

• Jennifer is my sister.
• That television show is interesting.
• Our house is in the countryside.

'To be' can also be an auxiliary—or helping—verb: It works with the main verb, as in these examples:

• Kim is making a clay vase.
• Joe had built his first model rocket last year.
• People have admired Michelangelo's sculptures for centuries.

'To be' can also be a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object, either a direct or an indirect object. An example would be: 'Sue is talking.' In the sentence, the 'to be' verb, 'is,' takes a direct object, 'talking.'

Present Tense

The present tense of the verb to be, as with any verb, can take several forms: the indicative or simple present, present perfect, and present continuous.

The tables below show how to conjugate to be in these forms:

Note that even in the indicative—or simple—present tense, the verb changes in the first, second, and third person uses.

Present Perfect

The present perfect, formed by combining has or have with a past participle, usually a verb ending in -d, -ed, or -n, indicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the present.

Examples of the present perfect include:

• I have been a teacher for many years.
• She has been to France more than 10 times in her life.

To correctly use the verb in the present perfect, just remember that only the third-person singular uses 'has.' All of the other forms in this tense use 'have.'

Present Continuous

The present continuous, also known as the present progressive, is generally used to express something happening at the moment.

An example sentence might be: 'That course is being taken by a number of students.' Notice how the 'to be' verb changes depending on the person—first, second, or third—as well as the number, singular or plural.

There's no easy trick to learning which form of 'to be' to use here. Just remember, the first person, singular requires 'am,' second person requires 'are,' and 'third-person singular requires 'is.' Fortunately, all the plural forms use 'are.'

Past Simple

Past simple indicates that something happened at some specific time in the past, such as: 'Her house was built in 1987.'

Note that the past singular requires 'was' for the first and third person, while 'were' is used with a second-person pronoun. All forms are the same—'were'—for the plural tenses.

Past Perfect

The past perfectindicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the past.

Some examples include:

• Peter had been to the office before they arrived.
• How long had you been in town before he called you?

Peter had been to the post office presumably only once before they arrived, and the person being addressed in the second sentence had 'been in town' for a specific time period before 'he called.'

Past Continuous

The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important was occurring.

An example of the past continuous in a sentence would be: 'The ideas were being discussed while the decisions were being made.' In this case, the past continuous is used twice to highlight how one action was taking place at the same time as another: Ideas 'were being' discussed at the same time decisions 'were being' made.

Other Present and Past Uses

'To be' can also be used in other ways in the present and past tense, such as:

• The comparative or superlative form to make a comparison between people, places, objects, and ideas. Used as such, the 'to be' verb works like an adjective: 'The Mercedes is faster than the Fiat,' or 'The Mercedes is the fastest car on the lot.'
• In the modal form, also known as the present possibility, indicating that something may occur, as in: 'He should be at church waiting for us,' and past possibility indicating that something might have happened in the past, as in: 'He might have been at school or at home.'

• A copular verb where 'to be' joins the subject of a sentence or clause to a complement. These complements are generally descriptions that are often adjective or noun phrases, such as 'I am sometimes late for work.'

A copular 'to be' verb is essentially a transitive verb, except that the object is a phrase or clause rather than a single word. In this case, the 'to be' verb, am, links the subject 'I' with the description of the subject, (a person who is) 'sometimes late for work.'