Why English includes ''Irregular Verb''

[Mertullgu]

This is a question that I have been thinking for a while. I need to be enlighten.

[jutfrank]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=o82_XBJXxMk

[GoesStation]

Very nice. Thanks for posting it.

[probus]

��That's all very well, but never forget the Russellian irregulars:

I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool.

I am righteously indignant. You are annoyed. He is making a fuss over nothing.

I have reconsidered the matter. You have changed your mind. He has gone back on his word.

I have an independent mind. You are eccentric. He is round the twist.

[Glizdka]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=o82_XBJXxMk

That's a true gem!

There is something called Zipf's Law. It explains why some verbs are so frequently used, Zipf's Law applies to language. The most frequently used verbs are irregular and most of irregular verbs are used most.

[Tarheel]

That's a true gem!

There is something called Zipf's Law. It explains why some verbs are so frequently used. Zipf's Law applies to language. The most frequently used verbs are irregular.

I think you will find that the irregular verbs are Germanic in origin.

[orangutan]

I think you will find that the irregular verbs are Germanic in origin.

They are; however, they go back further than that, to the ancestral Indo-European language. At that time vowel changes, such as those in many irregular verbs (sing-sang-sung) were one of the methods of choice for word formation - so they were not irregular, but regular. (European philologists gave this the name Ablaut, if this helps people find more information.)

Enough patterns survived to give "subregularities" rather than just irregularity (method in madness, so to speak). More in Old English and German than Modern English, but there are still patterns like sing-sang-sung which are common enough to be of some help to English learners.

I don't mean that this applies to all English irregular verbs. Other processes have been at work as well. But I hope this helps.

[emsr2d2]

Please note that "Why English includes irregular verbs" is not a question. It's a statement, most likely the title of an explanation. The question would be "Why does English include irregular verbs?"

[Tarheel]

This is a question that I have been thinking about for a while. I need to be enlightened.

.