Past Tense Verbs (irregular verbs)

     The English language has three basic tenses: past, present, and future. Within these verb tenses, there is a progressive form to indicate ongoing action, a perfect form to indicate completed action, and a perfect progressive form to indicate ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time. But today we will look at the simple past tense.
    For example: “We visited the grocery store yesterday.” Visited is a simple past tense verb that is used to describe a completed action. So, past tense expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past tense verbs end in -ed  to add this ending to the simple present tense form. However, irregular verbs change completely in this tense and are not subordinated to rules; we must memorize the irregular shape.
     Today Spelling City gave me a list of ten irregular verbs  that are:

-She paid for her candy with a dolar bill.
-We met last year, and then met again yesterday.
-He drove his car to the store.
-I chose one thing and not the other.
-She kept the secret and did not tell anyone.
-You wrote theletter last week, but I only got it today.
-We froze the water into ice cubes.
-She knew all the facts about the subject.
-I drew the picture of my cat with a pencil.
-He drank the milk in one big swallow.

   If you are looking for tools to learn verb tenses, look no further! VocabularySpellingCity has everything from verb tense printable worksheets and presentations to various verb tense games. And you can comprove that right here  
  Here is a list of common irregular verbs:

Simple Present	Simple Past	Past Participle
arise awake be bear beat become begin bend bet bite bleed blow break bring build burn burst buy catch choose cling come cost creep cut deal dig dive do draw dream drink drive eat fall feed feel fight find fit flee fling fly forbid forget forgive forgo freeze get give go grind grow hang have hear hide hit hold hurt keep kneel knit know lay lead leap leave lend let lie (down) light lose make mean meet pay prove put quit read ride ring rise run saw say see seek sell send set sew shake shave shear shine shoot show shrink shut sing sink sit slay sleep slide sneak speak speed spend spill spin spit split spread spring stand steal stick sting stink strew strike strive swear sweep swim swing take teach tear tell think thrive throw undergo understand upset wake wear weave weep win wind withdraw wring write	arose awoke was, were bore beat became began bent bet bit bled blew broke brought built burned or burnt burst bought caught chose clung came cost crept cut dealt dug dived or dove did drew dreamed or dreamt drank drove ate fell fed felt fought found fit, fitted fled flung flew forbade or forbad forgot forgave forwent froze got gave went ground grew hung or hanged had heard hid hit held hurt kept knelt or kneeled knitted or knit knew laid led leapt or leaped left lent let lay lit or lighted lost made meant met paid proved put quit read rode rang rose ran sawed said saw sought sold sent set sewed shook shaved sheared shone or shined shot showed shrank or shrunk shut sang sank sat slew slept slid sneaked or snuck spoke sped spent spilled or spilt spun spat or spit split spread sprang stood stole stuck stung stank or stunk strewed struck strove or strived swore swept swam swung took taught tore told thought thrived or throve threw underwent understood upset woke or waked wore wove wept won wound withdrew wrung wrote	arisen awoken been borne beaten or beat become begun bent bet bitten bled blown broken brought built burned or burnt burst bought caught chosen clung come cost crept cut dealt dug dived done drawn dreamed or dreamt drunk driven eaten fallen fed felt fought found fit, fitted fled flung flown, forbidden or forbade forgotten forgiven forgone frozen gotten or got given gone ground grown hung or hanged had heard hidden hit held hurt kept knelt or kneeled knitted or knit known laid led leapt or leaped left lent let lain lit or lighted lost made meant met paid proved or proven put quit read ridden rung risen run sawed or sawn said seen sought sold sent set sewn or sewed shaken shaved or shaven sheared or shorn shone or shined shot shown or showed shrunk or shrunken shut sung sunk sat slain slept slid sneaked or snuck spoken sped spent spilled or spilt spun spat or spit split spread sprung stood stolen stuck stung stunk strewn struck or stricken striven or strived sworn swept swum swung taken taught torn told thought thrived or thriven thrown undergone understood upset woken or waked worn woven wept won wound withdrawn wrung written

Words With Silent Letters

    Many words in English have silent letters. Silent letters are letters that you can't hear when you say the word, but that are there when you write the word.  So, silent letters cause difficulties for both native speakers and English learners, because they make the spelling of words different from their pronunciation. We must learn that the silent letter or letters are part of the standard spelling of these words. Today, this issue was discussed in class on the basis of the following words:

   Not all silent letters are completely redundant.
   Silent letters can distinguish between homophones, e.g. in/inn; be/bee; lent/leant. This is an aid to readers already familiar with both words.
  Silent letters may give an insight into the meaning or origin of a word, e.g. vineyard suggests vines more than the phonetic *vinyard would.
  Silent letters may help to put weight on a certain syllable, telling the reader to put more stress on the syllable. The final 〈fe〉 in giraffe gives a clue to the second-syllable stress, where *giraf might suggest initial-stress.

   As a curiosity, I tell you that in the case of sandwich, listen and often, they can be pronounced with or without the sound of d, in the first case, and t, in the last two.

Silent Vowels

Vowels	Words
a (in a digraph)	aisle, team, spread, boat
e (in a digraph)	great, heist, feud, pie, toe
e (ending vowel)	pale, scene, lime, stove, fuse
i (in a digraph)	pail, receive, believe, juice
o (in a digraph)	people, jeopardy
u (in a digraph)	gauge, laugh, guess, guide

Silent Consonants

Consonants	Words
b	comb, tomb, bomb, debt
c	black, scene, science
d	fudge, bridge, ledge
f	cliff, stuff, staff
g	gnarl, gnaw, gnome, foreign, sign
h	ghost, whistle; school, chord
k	knee, knife, knowledge
l	quill, swell, tall
m	mnemonics
n	condemn, column, solemn
p	pneumonia, receipt
s	brass, fuss, press
t	depot, potpourri, watch
w	window, shadow, answer
z	jazz, buzz

Silent Diagraph

Consonant Digraph	Words
gh	high, daughter

Some silent letters are sounded when other word forms are created.

Base Words	Other Word Forms
sign (silent letter g)	signal, signature
bomb (silent letter b)	bombard, bombardier
solemn (silent letter n)	solemnity, solemnize

Homophones

The continuation of one of the most instructive lessons corresponded today: homophones.  Is good to remember that this type of words are pronounced identically but have different spellings and meanings. In previous lessons we saw a very interesting homophones´s list consists of the following words:

        In today's lesson, this was the list. It was very successful because it included everyday words and perhaps, those who do not have much skill with the English, would tend to confuse them when  they write or communicate orally. 
ant---hormiga                dear---querid@                 bear---oso                          bored---aburrid@
aunt---tía                       deer---ciervo                     bare---desnud@                 board---tablón
                 sent---envió                       cent---centavo                         scent---olor
                

-A tiny black ant crawled on the picnic table.
-My aunt  is married to my uncle.
-She had always loved her dear friend.   
-A baby deer is called a fawn.
-I froze with fear at the sight of the bear near my tent.
-The walls were bare and had no decoration.
-I had nothing to do , so I felt really bored.
-Use a flat wooden board to make a shelf.
-My grandmother sent me a letter in the mail.
-The value of a penny is equal to one cent.
-The dog sniffed the scent to find the bone.     
     
    Here again you have the list of other homophones that I did:
          ate(comió)-eight(ocho)                                                     be(ser/estar)-bee(abeja)
           blew(sopló)-blue(azul)                                                      brake(freno)-break(rotura)
           buy(comprar)-by(por)                                                      dye(tinte)- die(morir)
           fair(feria)- fire(fuego)                                                        heal(sanar)-heel(tacón)
           hear(escuchar)-here(aquí)                                                knew(sabía)-new(nuevo)
           mail(correo)-male(masculino)                                           peace(paz)-piece(pieza)
           pray(orar)-prey(presa)                                                      reel(carrete)-real(real)
           sail(vela)-sale(venta)                                                         sea(mar)-see(ver)
           stair(escalera)-stare(mirar)                                                steal(robar)-steel(acero)
           waist(cintura)-waste(residuos)                                           week(semana)-weak(débil)
   

Social Studies Vocabulary (I)

     Hellooo!!!!
The social studies vocabulary lists are based on broad areas of study to which  students can readily relate the words about: family, school, neighborhood, and community life. Previously we had discussed related to mathematical and scientific vocabulary words. Today the lesson referring to words related to geography. 
     VocabularySpellingCity offers a variety of practice games to solidify our understanding of the vocabulary related to each of the social studies areas and periods we are studying.  As usual in this type of class is very useful the Worl-O-Rama activity to fix the meaning of words, their  intertextual use and possible synonyms.

        sheltered area,specially of deepwater---harbor      
        Tha mountain shadowed the valley below it.
        perimeter, outer edge, dividing line----border
        shoreline------coast
        flat representation of a geographical area---- map
        The road is closed; take a diferent route.  
        yearly weather pattern in one place----climate
        a place loading and unloading ships----port
        imaginary line dividing Earth´s north from south----equator
        This is the location where I found crystals.


If you want to dig deeper on these lists of words here I leave you the link to get to Spelling City right here