One of the well-known things about English is how hard it is to learn because we have so many irregular verbs.
What is less well-known is why irregular verbs are irregular, and why the others follow the regular pattern (e.g. adding 'ed' for past tense).
Its all about how much they are in common usage. So verbs that are used all the time tend to become irregular. We like to sex them up a bit to make our language more interesting to speak. Words that aren't used much have to follow the regular pattern so we can easily figure out what they mean.
As words come into common usage, they can change from regular to irregular and develop unusual past tenses and other forms. Conversely, as words go out of usage, they drift back into regularity. This does take a long time, there are loads of examples from Shakespeare, for example.
Well, today I heard a verb used for the first time with a newly irregular past tense. The verb was: 'sync'. The new past tense was: 'sank'. Someone sank their iPod.
Does this mean that synching is now so commonplace that it has become irregular in our language?
...or just that we already have the verb 'to sink' with 'sank' as its past tense, and 'sinked' sounds stupid?
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Posted by Dave Armstrong At 05:46:13 PM On 05/16/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Bob Balaban At 02:52:08 AM On 05/17/2008 | - Website - |