Speaking of Words: Who’d a Thunk It?

Speaking of Words: Who’d a Thunk It?

By Michael Ferber, Speaking of Words        People studying English as a second language—or its Germanic cousins such as German, Dutch, or Icelandic—must contend with a sizable list of irregular verbs.  Most verbs, and nearly all new verbs, are regular: they make their past tense by adding a dental consonant sound, usually spelled –ed but pronounced in three different ways, to their basic (infinitive) or present tense form: they walk—they walked…