Listen back to yourself
Play your recording of the ten verbs. Listen once. Then sort them into three groups by how the ending sounds, not how it is spelled.
You will get some wrong. That is the point — you are about to find out why the groups are what they are.
Three of your ten. Say each aloud and match it to the sound its ending actually makes.
Twelve verbs, three columns
Say every one aloud before you read the headings
| Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|
| walked | lived | wanted |
| stopped | closed | needed |
| asked | stayed | started |
| worked | opened | waited |
Say all twelve aloud, with two fingers on your throat, before you answer.
1. Which group gains an extra syllable?
2. Look at the sound immediately before the -ed in Group C. What do want, need, start and wait end in?
3. Why would English add a syllable there?
4. Group A ends in /k/ and /p/ — voiceless. Group B ends in vowels and /v/, /z/, /n/ — voiced. What decides the ending sound?
Spelling, then sound
Spelling is finite and can be listed. Sound is physical and has to be felt.
Spelling
| If the verb ends in… | Add | Example |
|---|---|---|
| most sounds | -ed | walk → walked · open → opened |
-e | -d only | live → lived · close → closed |
consonant + -y | -ied | study → studied · carry → carried |
vowel + -y | -ed | play → played · stay → stayed |
| one vowel + one consonant, stressed | double the consonant | stop → stopped · plan → planned |
Rows 3 and 4 are Unit 1's rule again. Study → studies → studied, play → plays → played. If you learnt it for the third person, you already know it here.
Write the past simple of the verb in brackets. Spelling counts here — this is the one activity in the unit where it does.
She (study) medicine for six years and then (stop) suddenly. She (move) to the coast, (live) in one room for a winter, and (try) to work out what she wanted. In the spring she (apply) for a job in a school. They (offer) it to her the same week, and she (stay) for eleven years.
Sound — three endings, decided by what comes before
| Sound before | You say | Examples |
|---|---|---|
/t/ or /d/ | /ɪd/ — an extra syllable | wanted · needed · started · waited |
| voiceless: /p k f s ʃ tʃ/ | /t/ | stopped · walked · laughed · missed · washed · watched |
| voiced: vowels, /b g v z m n l r/ | /d/ | lived · closed · stayed · opened · called |
Say each verb aloud — fingers on your throat — and match it to the sound its ending makes.
/t/ — after a voiceless /ʃ//d/ — after a voiced /l//ɪd/ — after a /d/, extra syllable/t/ — after a voiceless /f//d/ — after a voiced /v//ɪd/ — after a /t/, extra syllableUnder time pressure
Six sentences, six errors. Rewrite each one in full.
1. I studyed medicine for six years.
2. We stoped at a village on the way.
3. She did not moved until 2015.
4. They playied football every Sunday.
5. Did you stayed there long?
6. He livd in that flat for a year.
Six verbs. Put them in order: the two that end /t/ first, then the two that end /d/, then the two that end /ɪd/.
A journey, out loud
Task card · Speaking
One journey you took — anywhere, any length, as long as it actually happened.
Ninety seconds. Use at least eight regular past-tense verbs, and stop dead on every ending. Your teacher counts the epenthetic vowels.
- Say where you started, what happened on the way, and where you ended up.
- Use at least three connectors from Lesson 2.
- Every -ed gets one of three sounds. There is no fourth option and no vowel afterwards.
Three verbs you will probably need. Decide the ending sound now.
1. arrived
2. waited
3. walked
The count
Your teacher counted. Answer before you hear the number.
1. How many times did you add a vowel after an -ed?
2. Which group did you get wrong most?
Before the irregulars
One question.
1. What decides which sound the -ed makes?
Before Lesson 4. Next lesson is the irregular verbs — the ones that ignore everything you learnt today. Tonight, write down every irregular past form you already know, from memory, in five minutes.
Do not look at a list. However many you get is the number we start from, and it is usually higher than people expect.