Can irregular
verbs survive?
The number of commonly used
irregular verbs is declining. Some die of natural
causes. Most modern children don’t know the word
cleave or that its past is clove. Nor or are they likely
to come across abide/abode. 
Other irregulars like dream and learn are
gradually becoming regular. How long
can dreamt survive alongside dreamed? Words generally
are being used on a one-size-fits all basis.
Despite this there is no danger of irregular verbs
disappearing. Even before they learn to read most children
can use 80 irregulars. Few now realise that
‘went’ originally came from ‘wend’
but nobody over the age of seven seriously tries to replace
it with ‘goed’.
The
Future
The future is less promising
for new irregular verbs. All new verbs in English are
regular, including all new noun conversions: I accessed,
you emailed etc. Even when an old verb takes a new meaning
it uses a regular pattern – the army officer rung his
general but his men ringed the city.
For a new irregular verb to survive it must offer some familiar
pattern in how it works. One of the most recent
irregulars is sneak/snuck which you find in American
English. In Britain we prefer sneaked but there is a
logic to the US version: it follows the pattern of
strike/struck.
Perhaps the best market for a new irregular verb is amongst
young people. The coolest words are the ones that
don’t follow crowd. Any takers for snooze, or tooken?
Do
you know the words we use to describe he English language.
Try this crossword. You can find all the
words in the glossary of this section of ESL
Reading.
