[me-cook-salami]

I want to teach my students how to say the past tense -ed forms correctly.
I can find tons of examples but no rules. This is what I've come up with...can you add to it?


If the verbs last sound is:

/k/, /s/, ch, sh, th ....than -ed = /t/

/t/, /d/...than -ed = /id/

everything else -ed= /d/


please help. Thanks!

[Eric]

I don't know the rules off the top of my head so I did a little search. Here's what I found:

Pronunciation of the regular past verbs in the regular past always end with a -d in their spelling, but the pronunciation of the past ending is not always the same:

play/played /d/

The most common spelling characteristic of the regular past is that -ed is added to the base form of the verb: opened, knocked, stayed, etc. Except in the cases noted below, this -ed is not pronounced as if it were an extra syllable, so opened is pronounced: /@Up@nd/, knocked: /nQkt/, stayed: /steId/, etc.

arrive/arrived /d/

Verbs which end in the following sounds have their past endings pronounced /d/: /b/ rubbed; /g/ tugged; /dZ/ managed; /l/ filled; /m/ dimmed; /n/ listened; vowel + /r/ stirred; /v/ loved; /z/ seized. The -ed ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable.

work/worked /t/

Verbs which end in the following sounds have their past endings pronounced /t/: /k/ packed; /s/ passed; /tS/ watched; /S/ washed; /f/ laughed; /p/ tipped. The -ed ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable.

dream/dreamed /d/ or dreamt /t/

A few verbs function as both regular and irregular and may have their past forms spelt -ed or

-t pronounced /d/ or /t/: e.g. burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill, spoil.

post/posted /Id/

Verbs which end in the sounds /t/ or /d/ have their past endings pronounced /Id/: posted, added. The -ed ending is pronounced as an extra syllable added to the base form of the verb.

I hope this helps!

eric

[me-cook-salami]

Cool thanks,


That reminded me of a couple sounds I forgot.

The -ed in verbs that end with the /f/ and /p/ sounds also seem to get pronounced as /t/.

so...

/t/ for verbs ending with /p/, /f/, /sh/, /ch/, /k/, and /s/.

/id/ for vor verbs ending with /t/ and /d/

/d/ for all the rest.

[Eric]

Glad i could help

[Manuela]

The only pronunciation rule I get my students to remember is

Pronounce -id after verbs ended in in -t and -d.

It is quite difficult to pronounce the others incorrectly. And it is difficult to remember lists of sounds, as well.
Some sounds have voice (+voice) and some others haven't (-voice).

+voice -voice
b p
v f
z s
g k
d t
If a verb ends in a +voice sound -ed will be pronounced "d"(+voice)
If a verb ends in a - voice sound -ed will be pronounced "t"(-voice)

Try reading stopped as "stopd" or robbed as "robt" and you'll see that it is very difficult to do so. I explain to my students about the +voice - voice sounds and then tell them to just read the past tense as t or d, as it comes. However , they should watch out for the verbs ended in -t or -d. There it is necessary to add -id because otherwise we wouldn't be able to hear the past tense. How would wanted sound if we didn't read it as "wantid "? "Wantt"?

[Eric]

Manuela,

first of all, welcome to the site!

secondly, nice explanation! so simple and effective.

eric

[little sage]

Manuela,

Thank you for explaining the rules concisely. I knew rules existed, but I'd never learned them. It does happen that some adult students demand to know the rules for everything, luckily I haven't been asked this one so far. Now I'm ready!

With kids, of course, I wouldn't even start to explain pronunciation rules. I've been teaching -ed ending sounds in the phonics section of Oxford's English Time 4 with a group of 11 year olds, and I really like the activities that are included in the teacher's manuel. Listening and categorizing under [d], [t], or [Id]; odd one out (read 3 words, pick the one with the different ending), etc. It's quite difficult to get some students to hear the different endings. Slowly but surely we're getting it!

Anyway, thanks again for the help.

Karen

[McLovin]

Sorry for bumping such an old thread but I had to ask this question:

My mom teaches English and we recently had an argument that I thought could be settled on here.

First, she claims that the word "text" cannot be used as a verb. Whether it is or not is a discussion for another time. Now, let's say that we can use text as a verb which would mean to send a text message to someone. How would the past tense of the word be spelled and pronounced?

I claim it would be spelled "texted" and pronounced with "ed" as id.

Se says it would still be spelled "texted" but pronounced as if it was spelled "text"

I think she's off her rocker.

What are your thoughts?

[DaveESL]

Apologies to your mom, but I agree with you. I'd say "texted", pronouncing the ending /Id/.

It's not a word I use, though, and I fall squarely within the descriptive camp (teaching how English is, rather than how it *should* be) so I'd want to see how people actually pronounce the past tense of the verb "text" before I really commit to an answer.

[andydhorton]

In addition to and English teacher, I am also a dyslexia interventionist. The rules we use for the dyslexia intervention are as follows:

1) If the base word ends in an unvoiced sound, then -ed=(t).

2) If the base word ends in a voiced sound, then -ed=(d)

3) If the base word ends in the letter t or d, then -ed=(ed).

I hope this helps some more.

[Denis DNT]

I am sorry I can't be of help in this one.
Verbs like 'to text' someone are some of those new words coming up as the world becomes more and more attached to the computer and electronics.
I have heard a lot more recently like 'to google something' 'to smiley someone' 'he avatared me' 'give me a shout' etc. Sure I do understand what they want to say, but honestly my dad won't get it.
I have been wondering whether there are some current efforts by language experts to study these new forms pushing into the language. Any links?
Have you guys come across some more weird usages recently?

[mesmark]

There are always peope playing with language and creating new language to fit voids or be cool/unique. Things usually start off as slang with younger crowds. Your Google and text example are conversions. Words have been kept the same but have crossed word class barriers (noun to verb.) Things usually start off as slang with younger crowds. These kinds of things fade in and out but more prominent ones will stick and become part of the language.

Linguists and Applied Linguist spend their lives studying language phenomenon like this. There are many ways new terms can be formed and they all fall under the heading of morphology. If you are interested, just 'google' morphology + slang or something like that. I'm sure you'll find more than you bargained for.