A corpus-based learning list of irregular verbs in English
Eva Grabowski and Dieter Mindt
The first 100 out of 157 verbs
For learners of English, irregular verbs represent one of the most difficult aspects of the language. They are normally presented in the form of alphabetical lists. Alphabetical lists do not, however, take into account the actual occurrence of these verbs.
In the following learning list the verbs are ranked in their order of frequency in authentic English. Two machine-readable standard corpora of English, the BROWN corpus of American English and the Lancaster-Oslo-Bergen corpus of British English were selected to form the basis of this learning list.
The new list ensures that the learner has encountered the most important verbs, no matter when the learning process ends. For the author of teaching materials and the teacher, the new list supplies an empirical basis for the selection and gradation of irregular verbs in language courses.
References
Grabowski, Eva und Dieter Mindt. "Die unregelmäßigen Verben des Englischen: eine Lernliste auf empirischer Grundlage." Die Neueren Sprachen 93 (1994) 4, 334-353.
Grabowski, Eva and Dieter Mindt. "A corpus-based learning list of irregular verbs in English." ICAME Journal 19 (1995), 5-22.
Grabowski, Eva. "Unregelmäßige Verben im authentischen Englisch und im Englischunterricht." Praxis des neusprachlichen Unterrichts 42 (1995) 2, 147-157.
Learning list
The columns in the learning list give the following information:
Column 1: Rank position in learning list.
Column 2: Relative frequency (percentage) of learning list.
Column 3: Cumulative frequency (percentage) of learning list.
For every position the column indicates the percentage of verb forms that has been covered if the learner started at the beginning and has proceeded in the order of the learning list. If learning is discontinued after position 5 (COME) the learner has learned 27.3% of all irregular forms with five verbs (SAY, MAKE, GO, TAKE, COM E). If learning is discontinued after LEAVE the first 15 verbs have covered 56% of all irregular forms.
Column 4: Lemma/Base form.
Column 5: Past tense form.
Column 6: Past participle form.
Rank postion in learning list |
Relative frequency (percentage)of Learning list |
Cumulative frequency (percentage)of learning list |
Lemma/Base form |
Past tense form | Past participle form |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7.5 | 7.5 | say | said | said |
2 | 6.2 | 13.7 | make | made | made |
3 | 5.1 | 18.8 | go | went | gone |
4 | 4.4 | 23.2 | take | took | taken |
5 | 4.1 | 27.3 | come | came | come |
6 | 4.1 | 31.4 | see | saw | seen |
7 | 4.0 | 35.4 | know | knew | known |
8 | 3.7 | 39.2 | get | got | got |
9 | 3.5 | 42.7 | give | gave | given |
10 | 2.9 | 45.6 | find | found | found |
11 | 2.8 | 48.4 | think | thought | thought |
12 | 2.1 | 50.5 | tell | told | told |
13 | 1.9 | 52.4 | become | became | become |
14 | 1.8 | 54.2 | show | showed | shown |
15 | 1.8 | 56.0 | leave | left | left |
16 | 1.7 | 57.7 | feel | felt | felt |
17 | 1.4 | 59.2 | put | put | put |
18 | 1.4 | 60.6 | bring | brought | brought |
19 | 1.4 | 62.0 | begin | began | begun |
20 | 1.4 | 63.3 | keep | kept | kept |
21 | 1.4 | 64.7 | hold | held | held |
22 | 1.4 | 66.0 | write | wrote | written |
23 | 1.2 | 67.3 | stand | stood | stood |
24 | 1.1 | 68.4 | hear | heard | heard |
25 | 1.1 | 69.4 | let | let | let |
26 | 1.0 | 70.5 | mean | meant | meant |
27 | 1.0 | 71.5 | set | set | set |
28 | 1.0 | 72.5 | meet | met | met |
29 | 1.0 | 73.5 | run | ran | run |
30 | 0.9 | 74.4 | pay | paid | paid |
31 | 0.8 | 75.2 | sit | sat | sat |
32 | 0.8 | 76.0 | speak | spoke | spoken |
33 | 0.8 | 76.8 | lie | lay | lain |
34 | 0.8 | 77.6 | lead | led | led |
35 | 0.7 | 78.3 | read | read | read |
36 | 0.7 | 79.0 | grow | grew | grown |
37 | 0.7 | 79.7 | lose | lost | lost |
38 | 0.7 | 80.4 | fall | fell | fallen |
39 | 0.7 | 81.1 | send | sent | sent |
40 | 0.6 | 81.7 | build | built | built |
41 | 0.6 | 82.3 | understand | understood | understood |
42 | 0.6 | 83.0 | draw | drew | drawn |
43 | 0.6 | 83.5 | break | broke | broken |
44 | 0.6 | 84.1 | spend | spent | spent |
45 | 0.6 | 84.6 | cut | cut | cut |
46 | 0.5 | 85.2 | rise | rose | risen |
47 | 0.5 | 85.7 | drive | drove | driven |
48 | 0.5 | 86.2 | buy | bought | bought |
49 | 0.4 | 86.6 | wear | wore | worn |
50 | 0.4 | 87.0 | choose | chose | chosen |
51 | 0.4 | 87.4 | seek | sought | sought |
52 | 0.4 | 87.9 | throw | threw | thrown |
53 | 0.4 | 88.2 | catch | caught | caught |
54 | 0.4 | 88.6 | deal | dealt | dealt |
55 | 0.4 | 89.0 | win | won | won |
56 | 0.4 | 89.4 | forget | forgot | forgotten |
57 | 0.4 | 89.7 | lay | laid | laid |
58 | 0.3 | 90.1 | sell | sold | sold |
59 | 0.3 | 90.4 | fight | fought | fought |
60 | 0.3 | 90.7 | bear | bore | borne |
61 | 0.3 | 91.1 | teach | taught | taught |
62 | 0.3 | 91.4 | eat | ate | eaten |
63 | 0.3 | 91.6 | sing | sang | sung |
64 | 0.3 | 91.9 | strike | struck | struck |
65 | 0.3 | 92.1 | hang | hung | hung |
66 | 0.3 | 92.4 | shake | shook | shaken |
67 | 0.2 | 92.6 | ride | rode | ridden |
68 | 0.2 | 92.9 | feed | fed | fed |
69 | 0.2 | 93.1 | shoot | shot | shot |
70 | 0.2 | 93.4 | drink | drank | drunk |
71 | 0.2 | 93.6 | hit | hit | hit |
72 | 0.2 | 93.8 | arise | arose | arisen |
73 | 0.2 | 94.1 | fly | flew | flown |
74 | 0.2 | 94.3 | spread | spread | spread |
75 | 0.2 | 94.5 | sleep | slept | slept |
76 | 0.2 | 94.7 | cost | cost | cost |
77 | 0.2 | 94.9 | beat | beat | beaten |
78 | 0.2 | 95.1 | light | lit | lit |
79 | 0.2 | 95.2 | bind | bound | bound |
80 | 0.2 | 95.4 | cast | cast | cast |
81 | 0.2 | 95.6 | hide | hid | hidden |
82 | 0.2 | 95.7 | swing | swung | swung |
83 | 0.2 | 95.9 | blow | blew | blown |
84 | 0.1 | 96.0 | swim | swam | swum |
85 | 0.1 | 96.2 | bend | bent | bent |
86 | 0.1 | 96.3 | wake | woke | woken |
87 | 0.1 | 96.4 | stick | stuck | stuck |
88 | 0.1 | 96.6 | sweep | swept | swept |
89 | 0.1 | 96.7 | undertake | undertook | undertaken |
90 | 0.1 | 96.8 | shut | shut | shut |
91 | 0.1 | 96.9 | steal | stole | stolen |
92 | 0.1 | 97.0 | tear | tore | torn |
93 | 0.1 | 97.1 | hurt | hurt | hurt |
94 | 0.1 | 97.2 | ring | rang | rung |
95 | 0.1 | 97.3 | lend | lent | lent |
96 | 0.1 | 97.4 | sink | sank | sunk |
97 | 0.1 | 97.5 | overcome | overcame | overcome |
98 | 0.1 | 97.6 | freeze | froze | frozen |
99 | 0.1 | 97.7 | shine | shone | shone |
100 | 0.1 | 97.8 | withdraw | withdrew | withdrawn |